Brassia

Robert Brown 1813

Pronunciation:

BRASS–ee-ah (click on the name to hear it spoken)
Tribe: Oncidieae
Subtribe: Oncidiinae

Robert Brown (1773 – 1858) introduced the genus in 1813 in honor of William Brass, Esq., a botanical illustrator who collected plants for Sir Joseph Banks in Guinea and South Africa. The type species for the genus is Brassia maculata . Brassias are widely distributed, usually quite vigorous epiphytic plants with few-to-many-flowered inflorescences bearing large to very large, whitish to yellowish and light brown flowers with narrow sepals and petals spotted or blotched dark brown and a large, pointed, prominent, more or less reflexed lip. Commonly grown species are Brs. arcuigera (= Bs. longissima), Brs. gireoudiana, and Brs. verrucosa.

Number of species:

The World Monocot Checklist contains 34 accepted names (2007)

Distribution:

These plants grow widely distributed in Florida, Mexico, the Caribbean area to Surinam, Brazil, and Bolivia.

Brassia gireoudiana - ©2009 Greg Allikas
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Brs. maculata - ©2009 Greg Allikas
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Brs. pumila - ©2009 Greg Allikas
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Brs. caudata var. alba - ©2009 Greg Allikas
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Brs. arcuigera 'Kendal' AM/AOS ©2009 Karl Siegler
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Brs. gireoudiana 'Benttree' CCE/AOS - - ©2009 Greg Allikas
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**--- C U L T U R E ---**
Temperature:	Intermediate to warm.
Light:	These plants grow in bright, filtered light.
Water-Humidity:	Water weekly if grown in pots, every other day if mounted. Reduce watering during the cooler part of the year. Humidity should be intermediate to high.
Fertilizer:	½ strength balanced fertilizer four to five waterings in a row. Then one watering without fertilizer.
Potting:	Coarse grade bark or coconut chips with some medium size pieces of charcoal. Good aeration of the roots is crucial. The plants cannot tolerate deteriorating medium.
References:	Bechtel H., Cribb P. and Launert E. 1992. The Manual of Culltivated Orchid Species 3rd ed. MIT Press. Schultes R. E. and Pease A. S. 1963: Generic Names of Orchids. Their Origin and Meaning. Academic Press.
Author:	Helmut Rohrl -8/2007
E-mail:	hrohrl@ucsd.edu

--- C U L T U R E ---

Temperature:

Intermediate to warm.

Light:

These plants grow in bright, filtered light.

Water-Humidity:

Water weekly if grown in pots, every other day if mounted. Reduce watering during the cooler part of the year. Humidity should be intermediate to high.

Fertilizer:

½ strength balanced fertilizer four to five waterings in a row. Then one watering without fertilizer.

Potting:

Coarse grade bark or coconut chips with some medium size pieces of charcoal. Good aeration of the roots is crucial. The plants cannot tolerate deteriorating medium.

References:

Bechtel H., Cribb P. and Launert E. 1992. The Manual of Culltivated Orchid Species 3rd ed. MIT Press. Schultes R. E. and Pease A. S. 1963: Generic Names of Orchids. Their Origin and Meaning. Academic Press.

Author:

Helmut Rohrl -8/2007

E-mail:

hrohrl@ucsd.edu