Brassavola

Epidendreae subtribe Laelinae. Two intergeneric natural hybrids have been recorded from Brazil: XBrassocattleya miranda L. C. Menezes (Brassavola tuberculata ? Cattleya warneri) and XBrassocattleya rubyi Braga (Brassavola ## ? Cattleya ###). In many case

Caespitose epiphytes. Pseudobulbs cylindric, not thickened. Leaves solitary, terete to subterete, fleshy-leathery. Inflorescences terminal, short, usually subumbellate, the floral bracts insignificant. Flowers one to many, spidery, fragrant at night, white to greenish-white, rarely yellow or orange. Sepals and petals free, spreading, subsimilar, subequal, linear, acuminate. Lip unlobed or three-lobed, usually tubular, without callus. Column very short, toothed at the apex, without wings or foot; pollinia 8 or 12, with strap-shaped caudicles. Fruit with a long beak.

Honoring Antonio Musa Brasavola, Venetian botanist.

A genus of 17 species found throughout the neotropics from Mexico to Bolivia.

1 Lip fringed along some or all of the margin. 2 1' Lip without fringed margins. 3 2(1) Lip three-lobed, only the lateral lobes fringed; ovary to 5.8 in. (15 cm) long. B. cucullata 2' Lip unlobed, fringed along its entire margin; ovary to 3.1 in. (8 cm) long. B. martiana 3(1') Inflorescences basal on a specialized leafless shoot. B. acaulis 3' Inflorescences at the base of a leaf. 4 4(3') Lip elliptic, open or shortly tubular at the base. 5 4' Lip obovate, widest beyond the middle, strongly tubular at the base. 8 5(4) Flowers 1--2. 6 5' Flowers 4--8. 7 6(5) Sepals and petals to 1 in. (2.5 cm) long. B. cebolleta 6' Sepals and petals to 1.6 in. (4 cm) long. B. tuberculata 7(5') Pseudobulbs spindle-shaped, thickest in the middle; lip to 1.2 in. (3 cm) long. B. gardneri 7' Pseudobulbs cylindric, not thickened in the middle; lip to 1.8 in. (4.5 cm) long. B. perrinii 8(4') Lip to 1.2 in. (3 cm) long. 9 8' Lip more than 1.6 in. (4 cm) long. 10 9(8) Lip strongly tubular at the base with a flared limb. ### . B. cordata 9' Lip weakly tubular at the base only around the column, shallowly concave without a flared limb; leaves to 19.5 in. (50 cm) long. B. flagellaris 10(8') Lip strongly tubular at the base with a flared limb. B. nodosa 10' Lip weakly tubular for most of its length, without a flared limb. B. ovaliformis

Christenson, E. A. 2000. Brassavola acaulis. Orchids 69(5):466-467; Jones, H. G. 1967. Preliminary contributions towards a revision of the genus Brassavola R. Br. of the Orchidaceae. Bol. Soc. Brot., ser. 2, 41:5-21; Jones, H. G. 1969. Die Gattung Brassavola in Westindien. Die Orchidee 20(4):181-186; Jones, H. G. 1970. Studies in Brassavola, I. Phyton 14:31-35; Jones, H. G. 1971. El género Brassavola en Suramerica. Orquideología 6(3):149-153, 209-218; Jones, H. G. 1972. Studies in Brassavola, II. Amer. Orchid Soc. Bull. 41(6):493-496; Murren, C. J. and A. M. Ellison 1996. Effects of habitat, plant size, and floral display on male and female reproductive success of the Neotropical orchid, Brassavola nodosa. Biotropica 28:30-41; Schemske, D. W. 1980. Evolution of floral display in the orchid Brassavola nodosa. Evolution 34:489-493; Schlechter, R. 1919. Die Gattung Brassavola R. Br. Orchis 13:58-62, 71-79.