Bulbophyllum pusillum Thouars (1822:102)
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonyms: Phyllorkis pusilla (Thouars) Kuntze in Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 675 (1891), nom. superfl.; Phyllorkis pusiphylis Thouars in Hist. Orchid.: t. 102 (1822); Bulbophyllum compressum Frapp. ex Cordem. in Fl. Réunion: 172 (1895), nom. illeg.; Bulbophyllum frappieri Schltr. in Beih. Bot. Centralbl. 33(2): 417 (1915)
Conservation Status
Extinct (Humphreys et al., 2019; Albani Rocchetti et al., 2022)
This species has been identified as one of the 50 best candidates for de-extinction, ranking 21/50 (Albani Rocchetti et al., 2022).
Distribution & Habitat
Mauritius (& Réunion?), Mascarene Islands
Also occurs on Réunion according to (POWO, 2025).
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Albani Rocchetti, Giulia, Carta, Angelino, Mondoni, Andrea, Godefroid, Sandrine, Davis, Charles C., Caneva, Giulia, Albrecht, Matthew A., Alvarado, Karla, Bijmoer, Roxali, Borosova, Renata, Bräuchler, Christian, Breman, Elinor, Briggs, Marie, Buord, Stephane, Cave, Lynette H., Da Silva, Nílber Gonçalves, Davey, Alexandra H., Davies, Rachael M., Dickie, John B., Fabillo, Melodina, Fleischmann, Andreas, Franks, Andrew, Hall, Geoffrey, Kantvilas, Gintaras, Klak, Cornelia, Liu, Udayangani, Medina, Leopoldo, Reinhammar, Lars Gunnar, Sebola, Ramagwai J., Schönberger, Ines, Sweeney, Patrick, Voglmayr, Hermann, White, Adam, Wieringa, Jan J., Zippel, Elke Zippel and Abeli, Thomas. (2022). Selecting the best candidates for resurrecting extinct-in-the-wild plants from herbaria. Nature Plants 8: 1385-1393. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01296-7 [Supplementary Tables S1-S6]
Bosser, J. et al. (eds.). (1976-). Flore des Mascareignes. IRD Éditions, MSIRI, RBG-Kew, Paris.
Govaerts, R. (1996). World Checklist of Seed Plants 2(1, 2): 1-492. MIM, Deurne.
Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Monocotyledons Database in ACCESS: 1-71827. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Hermans, J., Cribb, P. J. and Pailler, T. (2023). Flore des Mascareignes 170(2): 1-511. IRD Éditions, MSIRI, RBG-Kew, Paris.
Humphreys, Aelys M., Govaerts, Rafaël, Ficinski, Sarah Z., Lughadha, Eimear Nic and Vorontsova, Maria S. (2019). Global dataset shows geography and life form predict modern plant extinction and rediscovery. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3: 1043-1047. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0906-2 [Supplementary Dataset 1]
POWO. (2025). Plants of the World Online (online resource). Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. Available at: https://powo.science.kew.org/ [Accessed 1 September 2025]
Walter, Kerry S. and Gillett, Harriet J. (eds.). (1998). 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. Compiled by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Gland, Switzerland & Cambridge, UK: IUCN – The World Conservation Union. lxiv + 862 pp.