Bulbophyllum piestobulbon

Bulbophyllum piestobulbon Schltr., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 58 (1923) 140

Type: Ledermann 8081 (holo B, lost; iso BM, K, SING)

Epiphyte, pendulous, spreading, branched, to 80 cm long. Rhizome stem-like, dichotomous branched, densely covered with sheaths. Pseudobulbs laxly spaced, narrowly oblong, strongly compressed, shiny, 1.5-2 by 0.6-0.8 cm about at the middle; 1-leaved. Leaf ovate-lanceolate, acute, glabrous, for the section slender, 3-4.7 by 1-1.3 cm below the middle; base contracted. Inflorescences 1-flowered, sparse, fascicled, from the rhizome, slender, with the flower 0.8 cm long; peduncle with few sheaths flexuose. Floral bract elliptic, acuminate, almost as long as the ovary. Sepals oblong-ligulate, subobtuse, 0.35 cm long; margins in basal half minutely and sparsely finely ciliate. Lateral sepals oblique, towards the base of the front margin somewhat dilated, forming a very short obtuse mentum with the column-foot. Petals much shorter than the sepals, obliquely oblong, shortly acuminate, glabrous, hardly 0.08 cm long. Lip mobile, somewhat fleshy, tongue-shaped, obtuse, about as long as the sepals; base cordate; margins in apical half thinly finely ciliate. Column short; stelidia oblong, shortly acuminate, short; column-foot short. Ovary sessile, cylindrical, glabrous, 0.2 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1923)

Colours: Flower white with brown stripes.

Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest; 20-150 m.

Flowering time in the wild: July.

Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea), Solomon Is.

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua (Indonesia); Papua New Guinea; see map 96-1428M.jpg.

Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.

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