Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Bulbophyllum translucidum - a new species


The aptly named Bulbophyllum translucidum is a very recent addition to the rich flora of Phillippines. The latin epithet translucidum means translucent, which refers to the thin sparkling margin at the edge of the sepals and petals as shown in the first photo below. 
  



We found this specimen in Samar a few years back which eventually flowered under cultivation.  Although already known for a few years, it was only formally described some months back in Die Orchidee V2(4) 2016 . The type specimen was from Mindanao, which is a little bit diffferent from the Samar form.

I took liberty to cut and past some pictures from the paper as follows:


The most noticeable difference are the leaves, which are very thin in the Samar form and more robust in the type specimen. The second is the flower colouration - but these deltas are typically ignored by taxonomists.

Blue Peas vine

A relative of the jadevine but this is blue instead of green - hence the name Strongylodon caerulea.

This a large vine from the Philippines that has not yet found its way to the horticultural scene.



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