The genus Bulbophyllum was established by the eminent French botanist Louis Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars. Bulbophyllum is the largest genus in the orchid family. In Peninsular Malaysia this genus has more than 123 species. Its mostly epiphytic species are found in different habitats ranging from (sub) tropical dry forests to wet montane cloud forests. Most of them are adapted to fly pollination. The Orchidaceae have all the earmarks of a group in active evolution: species, genera, tribes, and subtribes are all difficult to delimit. It is an excellent group for studying evolution. In this study a molecular phylogenetic analysis was performed on 46 species of Malaysian Bulbophyllum from 9 different sections plus 2 species of Dendrobium genus as an out-group. We used sequences of two noncoding regions (matK and trnL-F) and a coding region (rbcL) of chloroplast DNA to generate phylogenetic trees. The combined data matrix contained 2,392 characters and was analysed using parsimony and Bayesian inference. The results show all sections with the exception of Sestochilus and Desmosanthes have monophyletic clades. The section Cirrhopetallum deeply embedded within the genus Bulbophyllum.
