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(Last Modified On 2/4/2013)
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(Last Modified On 2/4/2013)
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Genus
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BRASSIA R. Br.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Ait. Hort. Kew. 2:215. 1813
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Reference
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Benth. & Hook. Gen. Pl. 3:564. 1883.
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Description
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Erect, epiphytic herbs with short stems usually thickened into conspicuous pseudobulbs that are infrequently rudimentary and inconspicuous or rarely entirely absent, the 1-3 leaves at the apex enveloped in several foliaceous or papery bracts, the conduplicate leaf bases distichously imbricating and forming a broad or narrow fan. Inflorescences 1-2 erect or arching, few- to many-flowered racemes produced from the bases of the pseudobulbs or concurrently with the flush of new growth, or, if the plants are pseudobulbless, from the axils of the leaves. Flowers usually large and conspicuous, subtended by small and inconspicuous, or elongate spath- aceous bracts. Sepals free, spreading, narrowly acuminate or caudate, sometimes of about equal length but more frequently with the lateral sepals conspicuously longer. Petals subequal to the dorsal sepal or smaller. Lip entire or obscurely 3-lobed, spreading, shorter than the sepals, the base sessile and adnate to the base of the column, the disk usually bilamellate. Column short, erect, without wings or appendages, the clinandrium scarcely prominent, usually truncate. Anther terminal, operculate, incumbent, 1-celled or imperfectly 2-celled; pollinia 2, waxy.
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Note
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A small genus of American epiphytes, ranging from southern Florida and the West Indies to Mexico, Central America, and northern South America to Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru. They are technically inseparable from Oncidium, yet the majority of the species can readily be distinguished by the conspicuously elongate lateral sepals. Five species are known from Panama.
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Key
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a. Plants without pseudobulbs, or apparently so. b. Leaves many, forming a broad fan, entirely without pseudobulbs. Lateral sepals 3.5 cm. long or more ........................................................ 1. B. ALLENII bb. Leaves few, forming a narrow distichous petiole, usually enveloping a small rudimentary pseudobulb. Lateral sepals 2 cm. long or less .... 3. B. CHLOROPS aa. Plants without conspicuous pseudobulbs. b. Lateral sepals 2 cm. long or less ..--------------------------------------------------------- 3. B. CHLOROPS bb. Lateral sepals 3 cm. long or more. c. Pseudobulbs monophyllous at the apex ............................................... 5. B. LONGISSIMA cc. Pseudobulbs diphyllous or rarely triphyllous at the apex. d. Apical half of the lip conspicuously broader than the basal half. Calli thickened into broad plates at the front. Highland species .. 4. B. GIREOUDIANA dd. Apical half of the lip not conspicuously broader than the basal half. Calli at the front with 2 separate and distinct slender teeth. Lowland species .................................................... 2. B. CAUDATA
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