Brassia

R. Brown

in W. Aiton and W. T. Aiton, Hortus Kew. 5: 215. 1813.

Common names: Spider orchid
Etymology: for William Brass, an eighteenth-century British botanical illustrator and collector
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 26. Treatment on page 645. Mentioned on page 496.

Herbs, epiphytic, ± cespitose. Stems either reduced and covered with sheathing bracts or elongate with prominent, single-noded pseudobulb. Leaves 1(–2) per sympodium, from apex of pseudobulb, often with 1–3 short foliaceous bracts subtending single-noded pseudobulb; blade conduplicate, oblong-lanceolate, dorsiventrally flattened, margins entire. Inflorescences lateral, racemes; bracts narrowly triangular. Flowers: sepals and petals distinct and free, long, attenuate-caudate; lip unlobed; callus prominent, 2-lamellate; column without appendages, footless; stigmatic cavity ± round; rostellum not prominent. Fruits capsules.

Distribution

Subtropics and tropics, Western Hemisphere.

Discussion

Species 35 (1 in the flora).

Lower Taxa

... more about "Brassia"
Mark W. Chase +
R. Brown +
Spider orchid +
Subtropics and tropics +  and Western Hemisphere. +
for William Brass, an eighteenth-century British botanical illustrator and collector +
in W. Aiton and W. T. Aiton, Hortus Kew. +
kooser1979a +  and williams1972a +
Brassia +
Orchidaceae (tribe Maxillarieae) subtribe Oncidiinae +