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Root-Flower Bulb-Leaf Orchid
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Root-Flower Bulb-Leaf Orchid
P Native Photo: Jambey Tsering
Common name: Root-Flower Bulb-Leaf Orchid
Botanical name: Bulbophyllum basiflorum    Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)

Root-Flower Bulb-Leaf Orchid is a tree-dwelling orchid with creeping rhizomes, 1-1.5 mm thick. Pseudobulbs are cylindric to narrowly ovoid, 1-2 x 0.5-0.8 cm, longitudinally grooved, placed 1.5-5.0 cm apart on rhizome. Leaf is single, oblong-ovate, borne on the tip of the pseudobulb, 1.5-4.0 x 0.8-1.3 cm, shortly stalked, tip minutely two lobed or flat. Flowering stem is erect or stout, arising from base of pseudobulbs or from nodes of rhizome, shorter than pseudobulbs, 4–10 mm long, flower-cluster-stalk erect, with tubular sheaths. Inflorescence is raceme-like, usually 2-flowered or sometimes 3-flowered. Flowers are 5-7 mm across, not so widely open, light yellowish; floral bract ovate-triangular, 4-5 x 3-4 mm long, tapering, longer than flower-stalk and ovary; flower-stalk plus ovary 2.5–3.0 mm long. Dorsal sepal is narrowly lanceshaped, twisted, 6-8 x 1.4-1.5 mm, tapering at tip; lateral sepals narrowly lanceshaped, 8-10 x 1.4-1.5 mm, tapering; petals are much smaller than sepals, ovate, 1.6-2.1 x 0.9-1.1 mm, pointed at tip; lip oblong or tongue shaped, slightly recurved, 1.5-2.5 x 0.9-1.1 mm, entire, pale yellowish, fleshy, with two ridges along a median furrow, blunt at tip. Column is 1-1.4 mm long. Root-Flower Bulb-Leaf Orchid is found growing on branches of medium sized trees in sub-tropical areas at 1100 to 1270 m altitudes, in NE India and China. Flowering:April-May.

Identification credit: Pankaj Kumar, Jambey Tsering Photographed in West Kameng, Arunachal Pradesh.

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