''Bulbophyllum nocturnum'' is a species of
epiphytic
An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...
orchid
Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant.
Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowerin ...
that grows in
New Britain. It was described in 2011, and is the first species of orchid known to consistently flower during the night, and close its flowers during the day.
Distribution
''Bulbophyllum nocturnum'' grows as an
epiphyte in the
rainforests of
New Britain at an altitude of .
The
type specimen
In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...
s were collected in the Agengseng logging area, around the Upper Argulo River in
West New Britain Province
West New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea on the islands of New Britain. The provincial capital is Kimbe. The area of the province is 20,387 km² with a population of 264,264 as of the 2011 census. The province's only land border is w ...
.
,
IUCN assessed the species as Vulnerable, threatened by logging and crop cultivation.
[
]
Description and phenology
''Bulbophyllum nocturnum'' has leaves up to long and wide. It produces flowering stalks only long, which bear an inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...
comprising a single flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
. The flowers are around long, with "yellowish green" sepal
A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...
s, with a red tint near the base; the lip is dark red, while the column is "yellow tinged red"; the petal appendages are greyish.
Taxonomy
''Bulbophyllum
''Bulbophyllum'' is a genus of mostly epiphytic and lithophytic orchids in the family Orchidaceae. It is the largest genus in the orchid family and one of the largest genera of flowering plants with more than 2,000 species, exceeded in number o ...
'' is the largest genus in the family Orchidaceae, and one of the largest genera of flowering plants.section
Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea
* Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents
** Section sig ...
of the genus comprising 38 species, 18 of which are endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...
. The flowers in this section have been described as "bizarre", with the appendages of the petals often attached to long, delicate stalks, and the appendages resemble the fruiting bodies
The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cyc ...
of slime mould
Slime mold or slime mould is an informal name given to several kinds of unrelated eukaryotic organisms with a life cycle that includes a free-living single-celled stage and the formation of spores. Spores are often produced in macroscopic mu ...
s such as '' Arcyria'' and '' Stemonitis''.Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...
and Leiden University, in the ''Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society
The ''Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society'' is a scientific journal publishing original papers relating to the taxonomy of all plant groups and fungi, including anatomy, biosystematics, cytology, ecology, ethnobotany, electron microscopy, ...
''. The specific epithet ' refers to the plant's night-flowering phenology.
See also
* List of ''Bulbophyllum'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2076805
nocturnum
Epiphytic orchids
Plants described in 2011
Flora of the Bismarck Archipelago
Orchids of Papua New Guinea
Night-blooming plants
Endemic flora of Papua New Guinea