Bulbophyllum elisae, commonly known as the pineapple orchid,[1] is a species of epiphytic or lithophytic orchid that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has crowded, wrinkled, pale green or yellowish clump-forming pseudobulbs, stiff, pale green to yellowish leaves and between three and twelve pale green to dark green flowers with a dark red to purple labellum. It usually grows in the tops of rainforest trees, on cliff faces or boulders.
Bulbophyllum elisae is an epiphytic or lithophytic herb with crowded, wrinkled and grooved, pale green or yellowish pseudobulbs NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. The leaves are narrow oblong to lance-shaped, thin, leathery, flat, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. Between three and twelve pale green to dark green flowers NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide are arranged on one side of a thin flowering stem NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long. The dorsal sepal is egg-shaped, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and about 3sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide, but the lateral sepals are much longer at NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. The petals are about 3sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and 2sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. The labellum is purple, fleshy, about 4sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and 2sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. Flowering occurs between May and November.[2]
The pineapple orchid was first formally described in 1868 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Cirrhopetalum elisae and published the description in the Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae from a specimen collected near Tenterfield.[3] [4] In 1873, George Bentham changed the name to Bulbophyllum elisae.[5] The specific epithet (elisae) honours Eliza Kern.[6]
Bulbophyllum elisae grows on the highest branches of rainforest trees, sometimes on cliff faces and boulders. It occurs between the Bunya Mountains in Queensland and the Blue Mountains in New South Wales.