Hi Peter,
On 1 Mar 2006 at 22:19, Peter O'Byrne wrote:
> Nik,
>
> looking through your Bulbo page I spotted "Rhytionanthos plumatum var.
> flava". This is incorrectly named. It should be: Bulbophyllum thiurum
> Vermeulen & O'Byrne, published in: Gard. Bull. Sing. 57 (2005)
> 133-137. The species, which is in Section Cirrhopetalum, was known
> from only one population in Endau Rompin National Park. That
> population was totally wiped out by commercial orchid collectors in
> late 2004 or early 2005, and the plants (the majority of them ??) were
> placed on sale at the WOC in Dijon.
I heard about this too but I also know from several other friends that it has not really
been wiped out in the wild as we are led to believe. Location is kept secret by those
who knew about it to keep them from commercial collectors.
>
> Regarding your belief that Bulbophyllum jacobsonii J.J. Sm. is a
> different species to Bulbophyllum plumatum Ames; based on the evidence
> of your photo, I am not convinced. You have one plant with long
> lateral sepals and a second with shorter lateral sepals. In both
> plants the lateral sepals are visibly rough-textured, but in one this
> is more pronounced than in the other. These are differences of degree
> and are not necessarily characteristic structural differences. Your
> photo does NOT show us the parts of the plant where
> taxonomically-significant differences would be apparent; ie the petals
> & the column. Until you've shown us clear differences in these parts
> of the flower, I will remain unconvinced.
With regards to the above comments, the texture of the species which I called Bulb.
jacobsonii (the one on the left) is actually very smooth compared to the very rough
texture of the one on the right. Lighting and sharpening of the pictures actually resulted
in the texture of the jacobsonii (the one on the left) looked a bit rough.
I did not have the opportunity of dissecting the flowers and taking pictures of the flower
parts but having the opportunity to inspect both species before hand, actually I'm the
one that remain unconvinced they're the same species. :-)
>
> BTW, there is a major error of fact on your page: Bulbophyllum
> plumatum Ames is not endemic to Peninsular Malaysia. The form on the
> left in your photo was described as B. plumatum by Ames, and the Type
> came from the Philippines. This is the form that occurs in the
> Philippines, Malaysia and Sumatra and was described by J.J.Smith as B.
> jacobsonii. I don't think I've seen the (long-tailed) form on the
> right before. Are you sure it originated in the wild and not in a
> nursery ?
Thanks for the correction. I don't have any copy of both species' line drawings at my
disposal. When I wrote Bulb. plumatum, I'm actually referring to the species on the
right and this one is only found in a restricted area in Pahang. The sepal length of this
'plumatum' varies a lot and I've seen one with just about 4.5" long and longest up to
13". Others have mentioned that they have seen even longer one.
I'm very sure that this species originated from the wild as I had the opportunity to visit
someone several months ago who has literally hundreds of this species in his
growing area. Almost all of them came with the original tree branches from the jungle
and all of them has this jungle mark on the leaves and rest of the plants.
I think you can easily get one of this 'plumatum' in S'pore's orchid nurseies too now.
Just ask them for a red-chilli Bulbo. :-)
Thanks again for spending time looking at this and I really value your comments.
Best regards
Nik
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Homepage : http://zanaf.dyndns.biz
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