Bulbophyllum comatum Lindl. 1862 SECTION Comata G A Fischer & J J Verm. in prep

TYPE for the section

Inflorescence

Plant and flowers

Photos by © Murielle Simo-Droissart and Her The Orchidaceae of Central Africa Website

Full shade WarmCold Summer Fall

Common Name The Hairy Bulbophyllum

Flower Size .2" [5 mm]

Found in Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Gabon, Cameroon, Gulf of Guinea Islands and Rwanda in lowland to montane forests at elevations around 450 to 2300 meters as a miniature sized, warm to cold growing epiphyte with .4" to 1.4" [1 cm to 3.5 cm] between each ovoid to elliptic to orbicular, slightly flattened, 2 to 4 angled pseduobulbs carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, thick, broadly oblong to linear, acuminate, not oblique, midrib hardly prominent abaxially, gradually narrowing below into the shortly petiolate base leaf that blooms in the summer and fall on a pendulous, distinctly swollen towards the apex, glabrous to finely wooly with fine ribbon-like hairs, 1.92" to 5.6" [4.8 to 14 cm] long, 25 to 65 flowered inflorescence with 6 to 8, tubular, acuminate, membraneous, keeled and glabrous abaxially bracts and recurved to spreading, ovate-oblong to broadly linear-lanceolate, acute to acuminate, membraneous, keeled and glabrous abaxially floral bracts with all the flowers arranged in a reticulate pattern.

The featured photos as well as the description are of an example of Bulbophyllum comatum Lindl. 1862 var inflatum

Synonyms Bulbophyllum comatum var. inflatum (Rolfe) J.J.Verm. 1986; Bulbophyllum hirsutissimum Kraenzl. 1914; Bulbophyllum inflatum Rolfe 1891; Bulbophyllum kraenzlinianum De Wild. 1921; Phyllorkis comata (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; AOS Bulletin Vol 32 # 10 1963; AOS Bulletin Vol 32 # 10 1963 as B inflatum; Orchid Monographs Vol 2 - A Taxonomic Revision of the Continental African Bulbophyllinae Vermeullen 1987 photo/drawing fide; Orchid Monographs Vol 2 - A Taxonomic Revision of the Continental African Bulbophyllinae Vermeullen 1987 as B comatum var inflatum photo/drawing fide; Bulbophyllum and Their Allies Siegerist 2001; Bulbophyllum and Their Allies Siegerist 2001 as B imflatum; Les Orchidees de Cote d'Ivorie Perez-Vera 2003 photo/drawing fide; Genera Orchidacearum Vol 6 Epidendroideae Pt 3 Pridgeon, Cribb Chase & Ramussen 2014; Orchidaceae Of West Central Africa Vol 2 Szlachetko, Ejsmont, Baranow, Grochocka, Nowak, Margonska and Naczk 2015

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