Bulbophyllum encephalodes Summerh. 1951 SECTION Oreonastes G A Fischer & J J Verm in prep

Photo by © Lourens Grobler

Common Name The Skull-Shaped Bulbophyllum [refers to the brain-like surface of the upper lip]

Flower Size .4" [1 cm]

Found in Nigeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Rwanda, Zaire, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe in riverine forests on trunks of large trees at elevations of 800 to 1500 meters as a miniature sized, hot to cool growing epiphyte with .8 to 3.2" [2 to 8 cm] between each ellisoid, 4 angled, yellow green with red spots psuedobulbs carrying a single apical, erect, thick, leathery to fleshy, elliptic, rounded apically leaf that blooms in the spring and summer on a to 14" [35 cm] long, erect then pendant, fleshy, many flowered inflorescence with disitchous flowers.

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchids of East Africa Piers 1968 photo ok; The Epiphytic Orchids of Malawi Morris 1970; The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977 drawing ok; Malawi Orchids Vol 1 La Croix 1983 drawing ok; Flora of Tropical East Africa Orchidaceae Part 2 Cribb 1984 drawing fide; Orchid Monographs Vol 2 - A Taxonomic Revision of the Continental African Bulbophyllinae Vermeullen 1987 drawing fide; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Orchidaceae Part 1 Pope 1995 drawing fide; Orchids of Kenya Stewart 1996 photo fide; African Orchids in the Wild and Cultivation La Croix 1997 drawing good; Bulbophyllum and Their Allies Siegerist 2001; Orchidaceae Of West Central Africa Vol 2 Szlachetko, Ejsmont, Baranow, Grochocka, Nowak, Margonska and Naczk 2015 drawing good/photo fide

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