Bulbophyllum minutissimum F.Muell.

Horticultural & Botanical History

I have found no specific information on the horticultural history of this plant but it was quite widely spread, including in the vicinity of Sydney: ‘Dr. Woolls has published a complete list of the plants indigenous and naturalised in the neighbourhood of Sydney, arranged according to the system of Baron F. von Mueller, K.C.M.G.  It is an enlarged and revised edition of a list published some years ago, and is now issued under Government auspices.  The Tree Ferns and Cabbage Palms, we learn, are fast disappearing, and it is to be feared that the gigantic Lily, Doryanthes excelsa, and Bangalore Palm, Ptychosperma Cunninghami, will share the same fate.  Bulbophyllum minutissimum, the smallest of Australian known Orchids, has ceased to grow in a spot where it was found in 1849, but which is now in the midst of the city of Sydney.  Other species are increasing rapidly, and introduced plants are dispossessing the natives.  Of such introductions, 175 are enumerated in the list before us, the total number being given as 1405, distributed among 513 genera, and 110 orders.  The list is a mere enumeration of names systematically arranged, and with an alphabetical index.  The list will be very serviceable to working botanists, and important also as an historical record.’  [GC p.143/1891].

History at Camden Park

Listed in the 1850 and 1857 catalogues [O.3/1850].  Probably obtained locally.

Notes

It is possible that Macarthur’s ‘Bolbophyllum minutum’ is another related species, many of which would fit the epithet minutum.  We have insufficient information to make a certain identification.

Bulbophyllum minutum Engl (1908), synonym Megaclinium minutum (Engl.) Rolfe, is not Macarthur’s plant.

Bulbophyllum minutum Thouars is a Madagascan species, but this does not appear to be a valid name.