BULBOPHYLLUM MAXIMUM

This member of the Orchidaceae family was given this name by Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach in 1861. It if found in central tropical Africa: Guinea, Libya, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sao Tomé & Principe, Gabon, Congo, Zaire, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It grows as an epiphyte, and will do well in well drained sphagnum. The pseudobulbs are 3,5 centimetres in diameter, sitting on a stem. The inflorescences are multicoloured; greenish white, bordeaux to brown and yellow tips.

The species name is derived from the Greek bolbos meaning 'bulb' and phyllon, 'a leaf', referring to the pseudobulbs on top of which the leaf grows. The species name means 'great'. Bulbophyllum ciliatum Schltr. 1906. Bulbophyllum cyrtopetalum Schltr. 1911. Bulbophyllum djumaense De Wild. 1921. Bulbophyllum djumaense var. grandifolium De Wild. 1921. Megaclinium flaccidum Hook. 1851. Bulbophyllum moirianum A.D. Hawkes 1956. Bulbophyllum nyassanum Schltr. 1915. Bulbophyllum oxypterum Rchb. f. 1861. Bulbophyllum oxypterum var. mozambicense De Wild. 1921. Bulbophyllum platyrhachis Schltr. 1905. Bulbophyllum purpuratum Lindley, 1862. Bulbophyllum purpuratum Schlechter 1906. Bulbophyllum subcoriaceum De Wild. 1921. Megaclinium djumaensis De Wild. 1903. Megaclinium oxypterum Lindl. 1839. Megaclinium oxypterum var. mozambicense Finet 1910. Megaclinium platyrhachis Rolfe 1897. Megaclinium purpuratum Lindl. 1862. Megaclinium subcoriaceum De Wild. 1921. Phyllorchis maxima. Kuntze 1891. Phyllorchis oxyptera Kuntze, 1891.