Species of the Month – April 2014
Bulbophyllum fimbriatum (Lindl.) Rchb.f.
In the months of January to April, if you head out towards the Coorg region of Western Ghats, you will be delighted to sight these little flowers decorated almost on every tree. One such trip happened to me in the month of March and could see a lot of these beautiful orchids in bloom.
Bulbophyllum is the largest genus in the orchid family Orchidaceae. With more than 2000 species, it is also one of the largest 
genera of flowering plants, exceeded only by genus Astragalus. Bulbophyllum is named from the Latin word bulbus (bulb like) and the Greek word phyllon (leaf) – meaning leaf growing on top of the pseudobulbs.
Bulbophyllum fimbriatum (Lindl.) Rchb. F.
Synonyms: Cirrhopetalum fimbriatum Lindl., Phyllorkis fimbriata (Lindl.) Kuntze
Known as Fringed Bulbophyllum, Bulbophyllum fimbriatum (Lindl.) Rchb. F. is a small sized, warm to cool growing epiphyte (or lithophyte). They are found at elevations of 1200 to 1600 m in South-West parts of India.
Ovoid-globose shaped pseudobulbs are 15 to 20 mm long, with 2 lanceolate-elliptic leaves that are 5 cm long. The plant is leafless during flowering time and blooms during the spring time with a slender scape much longer (8-10 cm) than the leaves, bearing multiple flowers. Flowers are in shades of green, yellow to purple or chocolate. Lip is short, fleshy and petals (and sepals) are fimbriate at the margins. Lateral sepals are four times longer than the fimbriate dorsal sepal.
Culture: Many members of the genus Bulbophyllum are beautiful as well as interesting and deserve place in every collection. They are best cultivated on fern blocks with little spaghnum and fed at regular intervals during growing period.
Habitat degradation: Many of the Bulbophyllum species are threatened by the developmental activities like road widening in the forest areas. There are many roads being widened in the Coorg region and sighting Bulbophyllums on the fallen trees has become quite common.
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References:
1. Indian Orchids: Guide to Identification and Culture by Udai C. Pradhan
2. Wild Orchids of Northern Western Ghats – Satish Pande, Niranjan Sant, Vivek Vishwasrao, Mandar Datar
3. Wikipedia and other web sources.
Article by : Srikanth Parthasarathy