Brachionidium
(pronounced: brack-ee-oh-NID-ee-um)
Classification
Epidendreae subtribe Pleurothallidinae
Overview
Miniature trailing or erect epiphytes or terrestrials rooting along the stem or at the base. Leaves petiolate, well-spaced along the rhizome. Inflorescences terminal, erect, one-flowered. Flowers not resupinate, cross-shaped, usually translucent. Dorsal sepal free, concave, the lateral sepals fused for their length, collectively smaller, equal, or larger than the dorsal sepal, the petals subsimilar to the sepals, with all segments usually acuminate. Lip unlobed to obscurely three-lobed, transverse, clawed. Column short, with a pair of apical stelidia; pollinia 6 or 8, in one or two groups, naked or with a minute viscidium.
Etymology
From the Greek brachium, meaning an arm, and the diminutive suffix -idium, referring to the pair of protruding arm-like processes of the rostellum.
Distribution
A genus of 64 species found from Costa Rica to Bolivia and the West Indies.
Care and Culture Card
See basic growing conditions and care information below.
Grow plants of Brachionidium in small pots with seedling-grade epiphyte mixture or sphagnum moss or mount them on slabs with a pad of moisture-retaining material at the roots. Provide medium light levels, cool temperatures, high humidity, and steady watering throughout the year. Native to cloud-forest areas, the roots should never fully dry out.
Literature
Garay, L. A. 1956. Studies in American orchids, II. The genus Brachionidium Lindl. Canadian J. Bot. 34:721-743. Luer, C. A. 1995. Icones Pleurothallidinarum XII, Systematics of Brachionidium. Monogr. Syst. Bot. 57:1-146. Sastre, C. 1991. Retrouvailles avec Brachionidium dussii Cogniaux sur la soufrière de Guadeloupe. L’Orchidoph. 99:205-207.
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