I don't know what this one actually is. "Cirro." doesn't appear to be a standard orchid genus abbreviation, so that's not helpful. There does exist a Cirrhopetalum Lion King, which under normal circumstances you'd think that obviously that's the plant, but that plant's flowers don't look much like this one's flowers. There's also a Bulbophyllum Lion King, which might be the same thing as the Cirrhopetalum Lion King, as the petals are similarly long and weird (picture), the genus Cirrhopetalum was apparently recently separated from Bulbophyllum, and orchid categorization is such a mess that I've come to think of the names as little more than random stabs in the dark anyway.
But the fact still remains that the flowers on this plant are only vaguely like those on Cirrhopetalum Lion King, so even if that's the intended ID, I'm not sure it's right.
But then again, using Google image search to try to make this determination is probably also a mistake, as Google image search is frequently also not much better than random stabs in the dark.
So I dunno. Open to guesses from readers on this one.
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3 comments:
Cirrhopetalum is a very closely related genus to Bulbophyllum. Most or all Cirrs used to be Bulbo. Many of the "lumpers" still classify them as Bulbos as do many hobbyists who have gotten sick and tired of trying to keep up with the constant rapid-fire stream of name changes (some of them back to the same original genus). Might be more conducive for the peace of mind of the rest of the world to simply give all the taxonomists baseball bats, lock them in a room together, and whomever emerges alive gets to decide what system we will settle on.
The Kew Monocot Checklist currently has Cirrhopetalum listed as a synonym for Bulbophyllum. Since they are the authority on which names are currently accepted, the correct name is Bulb. Lion King. However, you're right, the plant pictured doesn't look like Bulb. Lion King. Lion King is a hybrid of mastersianum and medusae, and should definitely have longer sepals. Not sure which Bulbophyllum species/hybrid is pictured.
I don't remember what this plant was called but they have it at the Botanical Gardens in D.C. If you haven't found your answer yet, they will be able to help you or it might be on their website.
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