Bulbo. grandiflorum

[christerb]

Hi,

One of my Bulbo. grandiflorum is flowering right now. I was hoping that the flower would be bigger, but it is only 4 inches/10 cm, which is about average for this species, I believe. Since my Bulbo. affin. grandiflorum "green" still is in flower I thought it would be a good idea to place them side by side for comparison. The new one really dwarf the other, and the shape is quite different too, when seeing them this way.



Internally they look quite similar, petal shape and hairy lip. The tip of the lips (in profile) looks different, being pointier on the "green" variety. However this might be just on my plants, not necessarily on others.





Regards,

Christer

[H20]

Hey Christer, sorry for the late reply, I've just got a new computer and it took a while to get everything up and running.

I love your post when it comes to this section. After seeing this comparison I'm very doubtfull that the "Green" one is B. grandiflorum. I would be very inclined to say it is a separate species or at the very least a sub-species.

Any thoughts on the two flowers?

[jamesh]

I have to agree with H2O on this one that looking at the flower shape, coloration and size I really dont think that they are different colorations of the same species. It would be very interesting to send in some samples of both of them as well as others with similar flower shapes and see where they all line up with a DNA comparison.

[christerb]

Hi,

I agree that the "green" looks very different from the normal one. I have read a report from another grower that the flowers are smaller, which is something that is obvious in the comparison photos of my plants as well. It is possible that it might be a stable character to separate the too.

However, from what I understand it botanists seem to avoid characters like flower size, as well as flower color to separate species. The colors on this one are quite distinctive, and I suspect that all the plants in cultivation which have this coloration may very well come from the same area. From the info I have been able to gather about the origin of this plant it has been associated with either the name Maluku or Ambon. Since Ambon Island is a part of the Maluku IsIands it seems plausible that the plants originate from there. It is possible that they have evolved unique characters in isolation, thus it could be something new. I suspect that this plant don't have wide distribution, since it has taken until the last few years for it to come into cultivation.

From the plants that I have seen on the internet there has been some variation in the shape and length of the sepals. If you only go by the flower shape of a standard Bulbo. grandiflorum, is quite easy to separate it from the green one, especially when looking at the profile of the dorsal sepal. However within the name Bulbo. grandiflorum I have seen flowers that also have the lower profile, but I haven't seen the other way around.

Maybe that is why the name Bulbo. arfakianum has been associated with the green form, since that species also have a dorsal sepal that lies flatter (like a hood) over the flower. I have also seen the lower sepals being fused on some photos, but I suspect, that in many cases the photographer haven't waited for the lateral sepals to separate before taking the photo.

In my eyes it looks quite similar to Bulbo. micholitzii (which seem to have longer sepals), but the Kew Monocot lists that one as synonym to Bulbo. grandiflorum.

What is needed is someone to study as many different flowers as possible of this one, and maybe find a stable character which can form the basis of a new species, or a ssp.

Regards,

Christer

[H20]

As your long post indicates, this section is in dire need of a revision!

One thing I want to comment on is your comment on people taking pictures before the flower is fully open, I find that this leads to SO much confusion over the internet as people see pictures of half opened flowers and assume that it is fully open. Unlike many other sections where you can tell it isn;t fully open, this section has some species that look half opened when they are fully open, ex. B. arfakianum.

It would be interesting to self this plant as well as cross it to your B. grandiflorum and see how they react to each other.

[christerb]

Hi Dustin,

Although, the green variety have finished flowering since around a week ago, I did contemplate trying to cross the two. At the same time I was a bit hesitant to actually do it, since I was afraid that introducing intermediate looking plants might create even more confusion in the hobby. I have noticed there is a already a hybrid named Bulbo. Hsinyin Grand-arfa (Bulbo. grandiflorum (burfordiense) x arfakianum (green) in cultivation. I have also seen that there is a Bulbo. arfakianum "red" x arfakianum "green". If they are the same, but with different parental names, I can't say, but they look similar.

www.orchidboard.com/community/bulbophyllum-alliance/54102-bulbophyllum-hsinying-grand-arfa.html

www.bloggang.com/viewblog.php?id=krisorchid&date=18-02-2010&group=5&gblog=167

Here's a Brazilian nursery which sell a similar plant as Bulbo. arfakianum x Bulbophyllum sp.''Cigarra verde''. The latter is apparently the name they use for the green variety.

www.orquistudio.com.br/detalhes_produto.php?cod_produto=137&cod_categoria=9

I have started to see photos of what looks like this hybrid now being called Bulbo. arfakianum, from what can see, it seems mainly be from Brazilian growers.

www.flickr.com/photos/sylvio-orquideas/5746643017/

Hopefully hybrids using similar looking species will not create problems in the future.

Regards,

Christer