Those sneaky Bulbophyllums

[lotsofplants]

Over the summer, my orchids went outside to enjoy the sun and fresh air. While they were out there, many of them bloomed. The vast majority bloomed openly, bright colorful flowers easy to see and enjoy. Some were more shy, hiding their flowers, not so flamboyant. Bulbophyllum ornatissimum was so sneaky about it that I only realized it had bloomed when I found the dry flower stalk, no clues present to indicate what the flowers had looked like before they faded.

It bloomed again. They opened this morning.

So, this is a good idea of the colors, except the little hairs are all purple. The curved structure in the center is a lovely deep red tinged with purple, and the other structures are a mixture of greens and brown and speckles.


The flowers are long, with two little tails at the tips. The flowers are very long and skinny. Each one is about 12 centimeters (not quite 5 inches) from base to tip, but only a bit over a centimeter wide. A good overview of the spray, but not such accurate colors as the closeup:

Comments

[mittelbar.livejournal.com]

Neato! We have some yellow thingy ones blooming -- they smell like cinnamon, but aren't nearly so cool.

[plantae.livejournal.com]

Well, like most Bulbophyllums this one smells faintly like something left out in the sun too long. Drawback of things pollinated by flies.

Is the yellow one a Lycaste? Some day, I will have a Lycaste aramatica(sp?) (huge number of yellow cinnamon-scented flowers!).

[mittelbar.livejournal.com]

It is, it is! Aren't they marvy?