The Genus Guarianthe:something old,new.borrowed and occasionally bule

摘要

SOMETHING OLD: WELL-recognized species names such as Cattleya skinneri, Cattleya deckeri, Cattleyapatinii, Cattleya bowringiana and Cattleya aurantiaca. Something new: a new segregate genus is defined. Something borrowed from the native Costa Rican tongue, "guaria" (orchid) and the Greek, "anthe" (flower). And, sometimes they bloom blue! Marry these characteristics together and one gets the genus Guarianthe.Described by Robert Dressier and Wesley Higgins in 2003 as part of the botanical subtribe.Laeliineae (Dressier and Higgins 2003) Guarianthe was separated from Cattleya on the basis of phylogenetic studies of nuclear DNA sequence data . Four former Cattleya species and one natural hybrid comprise the genus. The plants are bifoliate or sometimes trifoliate (2-3 leaves per pseudobulb) epiphytes or lithophytes with a sympodial growth habit and produce, from relatively small to large sheaths, terminal racemose inflorescences of multiple flowers. Their natural habitat is wet forests of Mesoamerica with one species also found in Trinidad and Venezuela. This separates them from the range of most Cattleya species, which occupy almost exclusively South America.Guarianthe skinneri, guaria morada, is the national flower of Costa Rica and represents the type species for the genus. Guarianthe are vigorous growers and prolific bloomers and have contributed colorful, multifloral traits to many hybrid offspring.