Bulbophyllum howense (D.L.Jones, M.A.Clem. & H.C.Zimmer) R.Kr.Singh & Sanjeet Kumar APNI* Description: Lithophytic or epiphytic pseudobulbous herb with short, prostrate, creeping rhizome, forming a dense mat with pseudobulbs oblong to elliptic, apex weakly turbinate or not, 3–6 mm tall by 3–5 mm wide, 3–6 mm apart on rhizome, contiguous, forming a continuous or near continuous mat; pseudobulbs shallowly furrowed between the ribs, surfaces of mature pseudobulbs smooth, those of young pseudobulbs with scurfy fugacious bracts, appearing sprinkled with a coarse off-white powde which may be dense around the leaf base.
Leaf single, narrow-oblong to narrow-elliptic, 15–25 mm long by 3–6 mm wide at midpoint, dark green, midrib sunken adaxially, ridged abaxially, margins plane, apex acute.
Inflorescence arising from pseudobulb base, wiry, minutely warty by projecting cells, to 30 mm long and bearing 1 to 4 widely spaced flowers on pedicels to 1.5 mm long. Flowers cream with green-tinged base to pale yellow with a yellow-orange to orange-red labellum. Flowers 4.0–4.5 mm tall and 4.0–5.0 mm wide across lateral sepals which spread widely; petals contiguous with, adpressed to, and partly enclosed by the dorsal sepal which extends forward and over the column; distal petal margins irregularly papillate. Labellum lamina trilobed, medial lobe elliptic to lingulate, evenly tapered from near midpoint, 3.3 mm long when flattened, yellow to orange-red in proximal third on the upper surface, and along margins of the lower surface, medially paler; lateral lobes erect, curved. Labellum claw attached to labellum base and apex of column foot.
Distribution and occurrence: Endemic to Lord Howe Island. Epiphytic or lithophytic in rainforest.
NSW subdivisions: LHI
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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