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Bulbophyllum beccarii is a huge epiphytic orchid from Borneo, with a thick rhizome that climbs tree trunks and large bowl-shaped leaves that catch debris as fertilizer. It is among the largest orchids known and needs wet tropical conditions with plenty of room, so it is not a typical houseplant.
Bulbophyllum beccarii is by far the largest species in the genus Bulbophyllum and one of the largest in the orchid family, perhaps second only to Grammatophyllum speciosum.
The thick rhizome, reportedly up to 20 cm in diameter (but the thickest reliably reported has been 5 cm) snakes its way around tree trunks climbing up into the light. Exact length figures are not available, but its discoverer, Odoardo Beccari, reported that it climbed "to a great height". Along its length at intervals are the relatively small egg shaped pseudobulbs each with a huge thick, leathery leaf at their apex. They are up to 60 cm long and 20 cm wide, yellowish-green and point vertically. The huge bowl shaped leaves are designed to catch falling debris and turn it into fertilizers.
Bulbophyllum crabro · Night-flowering orchid · Bulbophyllum sect. Peltopus · Bulbophyllum
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Bulbophyllum beccarii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
