Tongue orchid
Bulbophyllum fletcherianum at Melbourne Royal Botanic Gardens.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Genus: Bulbophyllum
Species:
B. fletcherianum
Binomial name
Bulbophyllum fletcherianum
Synonyms
  • Cirrhopetalum fletcherianum (Rolfe) Rolfe (1915)
  • Bulbophyllum spiesii Garay (1990)

Bulbophyllum fletcherianum, the tongue orchid, Fletcher's bulbophyllum or Spies' bulbophyllum, is a rare orchid native to southern New Guinea. It prefers sunny rock outcrops or mossy tree branches, but besides being lithophytic or epiphytic, it can also be pseudo-terrestrial. The tongue orchid requires high humidity and moist roots.

It is one of the largest species of orchid in the world, with leaves growing to almost 1.8 meters (6 feet) or even 2.1 meters (7 feet) with a width of up to 30 cm (one foot)[1] from a pseudobulb the size of an orange. The leaf is pendant and can be green, or purple with green edges,[2] and is the largest leaf of any known orchid. It is allied to other large orchid species such as B. phalaenopsis and B. macrobulbon.

The flowers are maroon and spike-shaped, and release an over-powering aroma which attracts blowflies and carrion beetles for pollination. The fragrance of these flowers, like those of B. beccarii, have been compared to a whole herd of dead elephants.[3]

Melbourne Royal Botanic Gardens

The specimen at the Tropical House, Melbourne Royal Botanic Gardens was collected in Papua New Guinea in the early 1970s by a local orchid collector, and is mounted on cork oak. As of 2006, it has flowered just three times: in 1980, 2002, and 2005.

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-11-22. Retrieved 2017-03-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-09-21. Retrieved 2017-03-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ↑ fwcos.org/Newsletter op. cit.
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