Epiphytic plants; rhizome repent, rooted at nodes, pseudobulbs 3 cm apart, conical in outline, quadrangular, one-leaved, 4 cm long, 1.5 cm wide; leaf oblong-elliptic, petiolate, obtuse, including the petiole up to 22 cm long, 4.5 cm wide; inflorescence suberect, arcuate, arising from rhizome between pseudobulbs and from base of pseudobulbs, one-flowered, several produced in succession, peduncle terete with two tubular sheaths, up to 15 cm long; bracts tubular, obliquely acuminate, up to 2 cm long; flowers showy, on light creamy base with irregular purple stripes consisting of small blotches along the main nerves; dorsal sepal linear-lanceolate, flat at base then tapering upwards and becoming conduplicate, margins ciliolate throughout, below the conduplicate part prominently hirsute with multicellular hairs within, up to 10.5 cm long, 1.5 cm wide at base; lateral sepals lanceolate-falcate, spreading, but the apices more or less connivent, partially pubescent within, up to 7 cm long, 1 cm wide; petals triangular, in fresh condition there are three elevated ridges along the three main nerves, long-acuminate, extending into setaceous antennae, terminated by a densely muricate sphere, the antenniferous part 4 mm long, whole petals up to 9 mm long, 3 mm wide at base; lip fleshy arcuate, oblong-ligulate, rounded in front, prominently keeled beneath, margin at base and disc in middle heavily covered with forwardprojecting strigous hairs, up to 5 mm long, 2 mm wide; column short with broad wings and triangular stelidia which are shorter than the anther, at base produced in a short, upcurved, but rather broad column foot, up to 5 mm high; pedicellate ovary cylindric, glabrous, up to 4 cm long.

Type: Papua New Guinea: Morobe Prov., Lae. Coll.: W. BANDISCH no. 28, and grown by E.S. SIEGERIST no. 90-7-3. (Type)[AMES].

This species is related to Bulb. biantennatum Schltr., differing in larger pubescent flowers, the shape of the petals and the very different column; also differs from Bulb. singulare Schltr. in the linear-lanceolate, pubescent sepals, and in the keeled petals with muricate, globular apex.

Bulbophyllum ornithorhynchum (J.J.S.) Garay, Hamer and Siegerist comb.nov.
Basionym: Cirrhopetalum ornithorhynchum J.J.S. (1903) in Icones Bogoriensis. 2: 107, T. 121
Typus: West Java, Sukabumi; Collector: J.J. SMITH s.n. [L].

J.J. SMITH in his Orchideen von Java, united this species with Bulb. leysianum Burb., albeit with some reservations. He accurately pointed out that the appendage of the petals has been described and illustrated by BURBRIDGE as a hairy or glandular sphere, which is not identical with his material. This very same structure in Bulb. ornithorhynchum is clavate or tear-shaped, and glabrous.

In comparing the published plates of Bulb. leysianum and Bulb. ornithorhynchum one readily sees additional differences. The pseudobulbs in Bulb. leysianum are approximate and falcate-ovate, whereas in Bulb. ornithorhynchum they are spatially distant and conical. Furthermore, the dorsal sepal is described and illustrated as being purple tesselate throughout; this same structure in Bulb. ornithorhynchum has only a few basal fenestrations. We are convinced that BURBRIDGEs drawing of the hairy or glandular apex of the petals is correct since identical situations do exist in other species, e.g. Bulb. elbertii and the here described Bulb. bandischii. Therefore we do not attribute this particular detail to artistic license.

We have noted that SEIDENFADEN reduced both Bulb. leysianum and Bulb. ornithorhynchum to the Philippine Bulb. antenniferum (Lindl.) Rchb.f. We are rather hesitant to follow his suggestion because of the structure of the dorsal sepal is very different in the type of Bulb. antenniferum from those listed in the synonyms. The flowers in Bulb. antenniferum together with Bulb. denisii Wood, Bulb. elbertii J.J. S., Bulb. minahassae Schltr., etc. form rather erect to suberect dorsal sepals which are concave at base the margins are inrolled for the apical two-thirds or so. Indeed, Bulb. leysianum and Bulb. ornithorhynchum are the only two species in which the broadly ovate, cucullate dorsal sepal is associated with such petals where the apex is extended in along seta terminated by a swollen lip. SEIDENFADEN in his notes on Cirrhopetalum Lindl. cites two specimen from Papua New Guinea which we have not seen, but we are reasonably sure that they are identical with our fresh material.

It is of interest that the setaceous tips of the petals do vary considerably in length. While J.J. SMITH described them as being only 5 mm long, in the material at our disposal we found it to reach up to 1 cm. This same variation is depicted on an unpublished drawing by FINET No. 241 in the Paris Herbarium.

Bulbophyllum unitubum J.J.Smith
(1929) in Nova Guinea 14:478, t. 78, fig. 122

This rather attractive species has also been assigned to Section Hyalosema by J.J. SMITH. Recently we have seen ample material of this species in cultivation, and we are convinced that this is not referable to Section Hyalosema. On one hand, the sepals are devoid of window-like markings, on the other hand the pseudobulbs are linear-cylindric, a vegetative character unknown in any of the plants so far allocated in Section Hyalosema.

As a matter of fact, Bulb. unitubum is a member of a small group of three species which share in common slender, pencil-like pseudobulbs and long, tapered sepals; in addition Bulb. urosepalum Schltr. and Bulb. kermesinus Ridl. belong here. This latter name has been transferred to the genus Hapalochilus Schltr. erroneously [Hapalochilus kermesinus (Ridl. Garay & Kittr.) in Bot. Mus. Leafl. 30:188, 1986], which mistake is corrected here.

Leslie A. Garay, 1408 Gladewood Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24060 USA
Fritz Hamer, Maria Selby Botanical Gardens, 811 S. Palm Ave., Sarasota, FL 34236, USA
Emly S. Siegerist, Research Associate, Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

PNG Orchid News November / December 1992