Bulbophyllum fletcherianum J.G. Fowler 1914 SECTION Beccariana Pfitz. 1889
Photo by Paul Phelps and His Phelps Farm Orchids Copyright ©
Plant grown and held by Phil Spence, Photo courtesy of David Banks, Australian Copyright ©
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Common Name Fletcher's Bulbophyllum [Director of Edinburgh botanic garden late 1800's]
Flower Size 3/4" [2.1 cm]
Found in New Guinea on cliff faces, humus filled cracks in rock faces, humus covered rock tops and on mossy branchyes in riverine thickets in savannahs at elevations of 250 to 800 meters as a large sized, hot growing epiphyte, lithophyte or pseudoterrestrial with large, dark green to reddish, oblong psedobulbs in a cluster with a granular surface and streaked with purple carrying a single, pendant, elliptic to oblong, glaucous, green edged-purple leaf which is greenish on the upperside and purple beneath which blooms in the summer and fall with a basal, stout, erect, inflorescence carrying 20 to 30 clustered, foul-smelling flowers that imitate the shape of a toucans bill.
One of the largest of the Bulbophyllum, leaves can be 6 feet long. Wow.
Synonyms Bulbophyllum fletcherianum Pearson 1914; Cirrhopetalum fletcheranum (Pearson) Rolfe 1915; Cirrhopetalum fletcherianum Rolfe 1915
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Notes on Cirrhopetalum Seidenfadden 1973 drawing fide; The Orchids of Papua New Guinea An Introduction Millar 1978 photo fide; Die Orchideen Band 3 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas # 40 Bulbophyllinae 1983 as Cirrhopetalum fletcherianum drawing; Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995; Orchid Australia Vol 11 No 2 1999 photo; Orchids of Papua New Guinea Millar 1999 photo fide; Botanica's Orchids Laurel Glen 2001; Flora's Orchids Nash & La Croix 2005; Lowland Orchids of Papua New Guinea O'Byrne 1991 drawing fide; Notes on Cirrhopetalum Seidenfaden 1973 drawing fide; Australian Orchid Review Vol 72 No 4 2007 photo; Bulbophyllum: the incomplete Guide From A to why? Bill Thoms 2009 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 82 #12 2013 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 80 #1 2016 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 80 #2 2016 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 88 #8 2019 photo fide;
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