Notes on a Collection of Orchids from Ponape, Caroline Islands^ 
Alex D. Hawkes^ 
The Caroline Islands of the Micronesian 
area of the Pacific, which extend in an approx- 
imately east- west direction for some 1,950 
miles, between about 5° and 10° north lati- 
tude, are almost directly north of New 
Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and the 
Solomon Islands, the center of distribution 
for the family Orchidaceae. It is, therefore, to 
be anticipated that the orchid flora of the 
Carolines is fairly extensive; such is indeed 
the case, though our knowledge of the flora 
of the area is still somewhat incomplete. The 
novelties incorporated in the present paper 
indicate that further exploration in the Caro- 
lines will doubtless increase the numbers 
known in the orchidaceous flora of the 
islands. 
The present interesting collection of Orchi- 
daceae from Ponape was assembled by 
Philip A. Adams, while engaged in entomo- 
logical surveys of the island.^ The materials, 
consisting of both herbarium and living 
specimens, were sent to the Botanical Garden 
of the University of California at Berkeley at 
the instigation of Dr. T. Harper Goodspeed. 
The writer must thank him for permission to 
study the collection, and for reading and 
checking the paper in its final stages. His 
further thanks go to Dr. Lincoln Constance 
for assistance in taxonomic problems and for 
supervising the work in progress; and to Dr. 
Rimo Bacigalupi for assistance with the Latin 
diagnoses. 
BULBOPHYLLUM Thouars 
A 
Orch, lies Afr., TabL des Espec. 3, et Icon., 
tt. 93-97, 1822. 
Eight or nine species of this gigantic and 
highly complex genus are now known from 
the Carolines. The group would greatly profit 
by critical revision in the area. 
Bulbophyllum Gibbonianum Schltr., Engl. 
Bot. Jahrb. 56: 483, 1920. (§ Scyphose- 
palum) 
Mt. Sankaku, 1,100 ft. alt.: this species 
grows on tree trunks, fallen logs, mossy rocks 
and soil. Especially healthy plants were on 
rotten logs and bases of Bird’s Nest Ferns 
{Asplenium nidus L.). The flower is eggplant 
purple. The species was seen nowhere but on 
the summit of Mt. Sankaku. August, 1950, 
P. A. Adams 24. 
This attractive dwarf epiphyte was origin- 
ally described from specimens collected by 
C. Ledermann on the island of Babelthuap in 
the Palau group. Our plant is rather larger in 
all parts than the type material, and differs in 
floral color, the blossoms as described by 
Schlechter being noted as "rotbraun, mit 
braungelber Lippe.” It has not been reported 
previously from Ponape. The only other 
species of the section Scyphosepalum is the New 
Guinean B. nuruanum Schltr. Living material 
is in cultivation at the Botanical Garden of 
the University of California at Berkeley. 
^Contribution No. 122 from the Botanical Garden 
of the University of California. 
^Department of Botany, University of California, 
Berkeley. Manuscript received February 13, 1951. 
^These studies were aided by a contract between 
the Office of Naval Research, Department of the Navy, 
and the National Academy of Sciences (NR161-472). 
Bulbophyllum micronesiacum Schltr., 
Engl. Bot. Jahrb. 56: 482, 1920. (§ Dialei- 
panthe) 
Mt. Beirut, 2,200 ft. alt.: epiphytic, com- 
mon in primary forest from about 1,500 ft. 
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