Orchid Information - Genus Bulbophyllum section Tapeinoglossum

Bulbophyllum section Tapeinoglossum (Schltr.) J.J.Sm., Nova Guinea 12 (1916) 406. Type species: Bulbophyllum centrosemiflorum Schltr.

Synonyms:

• Genus Tapeinoglossum Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1913) 892

Minute or small epiphytes. Roots sprouting below the pseudobulbs, spreading, glabrous, locally slightly hirsute. Rhizomes creeping or straggling; rhizome bracts thin, approx. glabrous, caducous including the veins. Pseudobulbs conspicuous compared to the size of the plant, 1-leafed, with shoots usually sprouting from its basal node and free, not fused to the pseudobulb. Leaves persistent, thick; nerves inconspicuous. Inflorescences sprouting from nodes along the length of the rhizome, single, 1-flowered; peduncle shorter than the pseudobulbs; peduncle scales 3, (sub-)basal; floral bracts tubular. Flowers not resupinate. Pedicel with the basal node well above the attachment of the floral bract, longer than the ovary. Median sepal connate to the laterals for a short distance near the base, 1.5—1.6 cm long, elliptic to obovate, thin; margins ciliolate; apex obtuse; 5-veined; surface shortly papillose-hirsute towards the margins. Lateral sepals connate along the lower margins, shorter than the median one, elliptic to obovate, c. 1.1 cm long, thin; margins glabrous to papillose or hirsute; apex obtuse; 5-nerved, adaxial surface long-hirsute, abaxial surface shortly papillose-hirsute. Petals elliptic to ovate, glabrous, c. 0.2 cm long, thin; apex rounded to obtuse; 3-nerved. Lip mobile on a thin ligament, without auricles, undivided, 0.2—0.25 cm long, ovate, glabrous; margins entire; adaxially concave, with two parallel, hirsute ridges, surface otherwise approx. glabrous. Column with the rostellum front well receding in between the stelidia; stigma wide, without keels inside, or with a single keel on the back wall, proximally not protruding; column foot deeply concave, half-way its length constricted by the inwards-folded margins, free part short, tip without teeth; stelidia less than 1/2 of the length of the column, short, triangular, with or without a small tooth along the upper margin close to the tip, with an inconspicuous, rounded wing along the lower margin; anther abaxially (?) furrowed, in front inflated and deeply concave, front margin not drawn out; pollinia 2, without appendages.

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