The weirder, the better.

Bulbophyllum lemniscatoides

"The one that looks like a bunch of dangling twigs"

Grower - Mount Prospect Orchids/Helen Hersh.

    Described by a friend at the show as - the one that looks like a bunch of little twigs stuck together. And I knew exactly which one she was talking about!  

   The little 'twigs' are suspended from the sepals by a thread, allowing them to flutter in the breeze.  The sepals themselves are dark with white hairs.  Pretty sure I would have to dissect a bloom to find the petals.  The lip is smooth and nearly black, making it a little easier to distinguish from the rest of the parts.  IF you have good eyesight.   And hold your breath.  Not because it stinks, but because those danglers really move!

   Bulbophyllums have all sorts of strange adaptations to attract a pollinator.  All Bulbophyllums have a hinged lip - a characteristic of the Genus.  A fragrance of dung and dead things is not uncommon, secreted into a groove on the lip.  Once the pollinator climbs on looking for the source, it's weight upsets the balance and tips it into the column, either depositing the pollen or picking it up.  Some species, like this one, have ornamentations that move with the slightest breeze.  These can be a part of the lip, petals, sepals - or all of the above.  Some truly look like little creatures and are constantly in motion. (see Bulbophyllum barbigerum, purpureorhachis) 

   This is one of the deciduous species, see photo below.  When it blooms, there are no leaves - making it that much more bizarre.  And maybe a little trickier to grow.   It appears as a green stem, swollen towards the apex - then narrows and makes a u-turn - where the individual flowers are attached.

   I am dying to see how the buds develop in this species.  With Orchids, usually the sepals are visible as the outer part of the bud, I wonder are the danglers tucked inside?  Or do they develop as the flower opens?  It seems impossible that could be the case, but if the petals of Paph. sanderianum can expand to 2 feet long...?   

   I purchased a flask of this species last year, and hope to be able to get some even better photos and hopefully a video.  It may be a few years, but it will be worth it to also see the variability.  The first one I saw in person had purplish twigs that had a little bit of a teardrop shape to them.

   Bulbophyllums are such a variable and fascinating Genus - giants and miniatures of all sorts of shapes and colors and configurations of flowers and vegetative growth - plus many of them are quite easy to grow under lights.  With more than 2,000 species in the Genus - there is no way to collect them all.  Not in the basement anyway.  Hmmm...that could be another post!