The genus was named after
William Brass, a British botanist and illustrator, who collected plants in Africa under the supervision of Sir
Joseph Banks. Its abbreviation in the horticultural trade is Brs.[3]
Description
Brassiaspecies and its popular
hybrids are common in cultivation, and are notable for the characteristic long and spreading
tepals (in some clones longer than 50 cm), which lend them the common name spider orchid. The
grex Eternal Wind is a recipient of the
Royal Horticultural Society's
Award of Garden Merit.[4]
This
epiphytic genus occurs in wet forests from sea level to altitudes under 1500 m, with the Peruvian
Andes as its center of diversity. Occurrence is mostly restricted to a certain area, but Brassia caudata can be found over the whole geographic area.
They have large elliptic-oblong
pseudobulbs with one or two leaves at the apex, lateral, unbranched many-flowered
inflorescences with small floral
bracts. The
lip is not attached to the column. The
pollinarium shows a narrow stipe. There are two distichous, foliaceous
sheaths around the base, from which the inflorescence emerges.
Brassia has a very specific method for pollination; it uses entomophily -
pollination by insects - and in this case specifically by female
spider-hunter wasps of the genera Pepsis and Campsomeris. Mistaken by the
mimicry of Brassia, the wasp stings the
lip, while trying to grasp its prey without any success. By these movements the wasp comes into contact with the pollinarium, that then sticks to its head. By flying to another Brassia flower, this flower gets pollinated.
This list does not include nothogenera based on genera that are synonyms of Oncidium, as for instance Cochlioda and Odontoglossum. These nothogenera are now synonyms with other nothogenera in this list, or with Brassia (in the case of Brassioda = Brassia × Cochlioda).
Gallery
Brassia caudata
Brassia girouldiana
Brassia lanceana
Brassia maculata
Brassia Rattler = B. maculata × B. arcuigera (syn. B. longissima)