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Brassavola

 
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Brassavola
 
 
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Brassavola is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of 20 orchids (family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
 Orchidaceae). The name comes from the Venetian
Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
 nobleman and physician Antonio Musa Brassavola
Antonio Musa Brassavola

Antonio Muso Brassavola was an Italy physician and one of the most famous of his time. He studied under Niccol? Leoniceno and Manardi. He was the friend and physician of Ercolo II, the prince of Este....
. This genus is abbreviated B in trade journals.

These species are native to the lowlands of Central America
Central America

Central America is a central geography region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmus portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast....
 and tropical
Tropics

The Tropics, seated in the equatorial regions of the world, are limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately 23?26' N latitude, and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at 23?26' S latitude....
 South America
South America

South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
. They are epiphyte
Epiphyte

File:Cadzow oak epiphyte 2.JPGAn epiphyte is an organism that grows upon or attaches to a living plant. Epiphyte is one of the subdivisions of the Raunki?r plant life-form....
s, and a few are lithophyte
Lithophyte

Lithophytes are a type of plant that grows in or on Rock . Lithophytes feed off moss, nutrients in rain water, litter, and even their own dead tissue....
s. A single, apical and succulent leaf
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
 grows on an elongated pseudobulb
Pseudobulb

The pseudobulb is a storage organ derived from the part of a stem between two leaf nodes.It applies to the orchid family , specifically certain groups of epiphyte orchids, and may be single or composed of several internodes with evergreen or deciduous leaves along its length....
.

The orchid yields a single white or greenish white flower, or a raceme of a few flowers.






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Encyclopedia


Brassavola is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of 20 orchids (family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
 Orchidaceae). The name comes from the Venetian
Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
 nobleman and physician Antonio Musa Brassavola
Antonio Musa Brassavola

Antonio Muso Brassavola was an Italy physician and one of the most famous of his time. He studied under Niccol? Leoniceno and Manardi. He was the friend and physician of Ercolo II, the prince of Este....
. This genus is abbreviated B in trade journals.

These species are native to the lowlands of Central America
Central America

Central America is a central geography region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmus portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast....
 and tropical
Tropics

The Tropics, seated in the equatorial regions of the world, are limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately 23?26' N latitude, and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at 23?26' S latitude....
 South America
South America

South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
. They are epiphyte
Epiphyte

File:Cadzow oak epiphyte 2.JPGAn epiphyte is an organism that grows upon or attaches to a living plant. Epiphyte is one of the subdivisions of the Raunki?r plant life-form....
s, and a few are lithophyte
Lithophyte

Lithophytes are a type of plant that grows in or on Rock . Lithophytes feed off moss, nutrients in rain water, litter, and even their own dead tissue....
s. A single, apical and succulent leaf
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
 grows on an elongated pseudobulb
Pseudobulb

The pseudobulb is a storage organ derived from the part of a stem between two leaf nodes.It applies to the orchid family , specifically certain groups of epiphyte orchids, and may be single or composed of several internodes with evergreen or deciduous leaves along its length....
.

The orchid yields a single white or greenish white flower, or a raceme of a few flowers. The five greenish sepals are narrow and long. The base of the broad fringed lip
Labellum

The labellum is part of an Orchid, Canna or other less known flower that serves to attract insects that pollinate the flower, and acts as a landing platform for those insects....
 enfolds partially the column
Column (botany)

The column, or technically the gynostemium, is a reproductive structure that can be found in several plant families: Aristolochiaceae, Orchidaceae, and Stylidiaceae....
. This column has a pair of falciform ears on each side of the front and contains twelve (sometimes eight) pollinia
Pollinium

Pollinium, or plural pollinia, is a coherent mass of pollen grains.They are the product of only one anther, but are transferred, during pollination, as a single unit....
.

Most Brassavola orchids are very fragrant, attracting pollinator
Pollinator

A pollinator is the biotic agent that moves pollen from the male anthers of a flower to the female carpel of a flower to accomplish fertilization or syngamy of the female gamete in the ovule of the flower by the male gamete from the pollen grain....
s with their citrus
Citrus

Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the family Rutaceae, originating in tropical and subtropical southeast regions of the world....
y smell. But they are only fragrant at night, in order to attract the right moth
Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the Order Lepidoptera. The differences between butterflies and moths are more than just taxonomy....
.

In 1698 Brassavola nodosa was the first tropical orchid to be brought from the Caribbean island Curaçao
Curaçao

Cura?ao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The island area of Cura?ao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Cura?ao , is one of five islands of the Netherlands Antilles of the Netherlands Antilles, and as such, is a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands....
 to Holland
Holland

Holland is a name in common usage given to two regions in the western part of Netherlands. The name 'Holland' is also often mistakenly used to refer to the whole of The Netherlands....
. Thus began the propagation of this orchid and the fascination for orchids in general.
Brassavola Nodosa

Species

  • Brassavola acaulis (C. America: Belize)
  • Brassavola cucullata - Hooded Brassavola, Daddy Longlegs Orchid (Mexico to N. South America)
  • Brassavola duckeana (Brazil)
  • Brassavola fasciculata (Brazil)
  • Brassavola filifolia (Colombia)
  • Brassavola flagellaris (Brazil)
  • Brassavola fragans (Brazil)
  • Brassavola gardneri (French Guiana, Brazil)
  • Brassavola gillettei (Trinidad)
  • Brassavola grandiflora (C. America to Colombia)
  • Brassavola harrisii (Jamaica)
  • Brassavola martiana (S. Trop. America)
  • Brassavola nodosa - Lady-of-the-night Orchid (Mexico to Trop. America: Belize)
  • Brassavola reginae (Brazil)
  • Brassavola retusa (Venezuela, N. Brazil to Peru)
  • Brassavola revoluta (Brazil)
  • Brassavola rhomboglossa (WC. & S. Brazil)
  • Brassavola subulifolia (Jamaica)
  • Brassavola tuberculata (Brazil to Peru and NE. Argentina)
  • Brassavola venosa (SE. Mexico to C. America)


Brassavola is in the same alliance as the genera Cattleya
Cattleya

Cattleya is a genus of 42 species of orchids from Costa Rica to tropical South America. The genus was named in 1824 by John Lindley after Sir William Cattley, who received and successfully cultivated specimens of Cattleya labiata that were used as packing material in a shipment of other orchids....
 and Laelia
Laelia

Laelia, abbreviated L in horticultural trade, is a small genus of eleven species from the orchid family . This is one of the most important and popular orchid genera, because of the beautiful flowers, their genetic properties and because they are fairly easy in culture....
. They have been therefore used extensively in hybridization.

Some hybrids:
  • Brassavola cv. 'Little Stars'
  • Brassavola cv. 'David Sanders', a primary hybrid between Brassavola cucullata and Rhyncholaelia digbyana. Rhyncolaelia digbyana was formerly classified as a Brassavola, and its hybrids have not been reclassified.
  • Brassolaelia Yellow Bird (Brassolaelia Richard Mueller × Brassavola nodosa)


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