Bulbophyllum patella is one of the cutest Bulbophyllum in my opinion. I haven't found a lot of information about this species, but here is some info from A Compendium of Miniature Orchid Species Volume 1 by Ron Parsons and Mary E. Gerritsen. By the way, this book is a bit pricey, but it is a must-have book with beautiful photos as well as nice information about the distribution, habitat, and cultural information of each species. The species is from moss-laden, montane forest in W. and S. Highlands of New Guinea at 1600-2500m elevation. This species belongs in section Peltopus. According to this page of IOSPE, this section contains about 33 species mostly from New Guinea, New Caledonia, and the Western Pacific islands. Many of them in this section are pretty species!
I received my B. patella from Far East Agriculture Orchid of Malaysia in May 2015, so I haven't had it long enough to know its culture. But it seems to grow at a decent pace with daily max/min temperature of 24/16C (75/60F). It acclimated much quicker than other Bulbophyllum I received at the same time. Since it is still fresh import, I would have chopped off the flower shoot, but I noticed it too late. Oh well.
This is the first year I bought plants from Far East Agriculture Orchid, and I'm pretty happy with the plants I received. They regularly come to Redland International Orchid Festival, so it is easy to place a pre-order.
According to this page of IOSPE, the flower closes somewhat daily in the late afternoon. I took photos in the evening, so this is probably at the "closed" state.
The plant is pretty small; it losts a couple leaves during the acclimation, but it has already made about 2 new pseudobulbs in the last 3 months or so. Hopefully, it will keep growing at this pace.
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