Bulbophyllum Beccarii
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''Bulbophyllum beccarii'' is by far the largest species in the genus ''
Bulbophyllum ''Bulbophyllum'' is a genus of mostly Epiphyte, epiphytic and Lithophyte, lithophytic orchids in the Family (biology), family Orchidaceae. It is the largest genus in the orchid family and one of the List of the largest genera of flowering plants, ...
'' and one of the largest in the
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. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...
family, perhaps second only to
Grammatophyllum speciosum ''Grammatophyllum speciosum'', also called giant orchid, tiger orchid, sugar cane orchid or queen of the orchids, is a species of orchid native to Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi) and Malaysia. It has ...
. The thick
rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...
, reportedly up to 20 cm in diameter (but the thickest reliably reported has been five cm.) snakes its way around tree trunks climbing up into the light. Exact length figures are not available, but its discoverer, Oduardo Beccari, reported that it climbed "to a great height" Along its length at intervals are the relatively small egg shaped
pseudobulb In botany, a pseudobulb is a storage organ found in many epiphytic and terrestrial sympodial orchids. It is derived from a thickening of the part of a stem between leaf nodes and may be composed of just one internode or several, termed ''heter ...
s each with a huge thick, leathery leaf at their apex. They are up to 60 cm long and 20 cm wide, yellowish-green and point vertically. The huge bowl shaped leaves are designed to catch falling debris and turn it into fertilizers. The
inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...
is produced from the rhizome near one of the pseudobulbs and hangs downwards to about 20–22 cm and is composed of hundreds of small yellowish flowers netted with red that smell like rotting meat to attract various flies. It grows in the
rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...
s of
Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulbophyllum Beccarii Orchids of Borneo beccarii Plants described in 1879