Brassia verrucosa Lindley 1840 Photo courtesy of © Lourens Grobler

To LATE TO EARLY

Common Name The Warty Brassia

Flower Size 6" or less

This large species is a warm to cool growing epiphyte of open humid, evergreen to semi-deciduous cloud forests on tree trunks and larger branches from altitudes of 900 to 2400 meters that range into Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El SAlvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Brazil with ovoid-conic, furrowed, slightly laterally compressed pseudobulbs subtended by 1 to 2 foliaceous bracts and has 2, coriaceous, elliptic-lanceolate leaves that are conduplicate at the base. It is distinguished from the other Brassia by the green warts on the base of the lip. They flower in the late spring through the early autumn on a basal, to more than 2' [60 cm] long, erect to arching, inflorescence arising on a mature pseudobulb which are strongly 2 ranked and many [10 to 20] flowered and are slightly fragrant of black pepper and need regular waterings and fertilizer year round. The lip of B verrucosa when flattened is oblong-obovate and is essentially unlobed and the flowers are smaller than B brachiata. Plants found in Costa Rica, Panama and South America with this name are either B brachiata [Central America] or B bidens [South America].

Synonyms Brassia aristata Lindley 1844; Brassia coryandra C. Morr. 1848; Brassia cowani R.H. Torr. ex Lindl. 1854; Brassia longiloba DC 1848; Brassia odontoglossoides Klotsch & Karst. 1847; Brassia ophioglossoides Klotzsch & Karst.; ; Oncidium verrucosum [Lindley]Rchb.f 1863

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 5 1970; Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium, Bakers 2006; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1987; Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Hamer 1982; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Mora & Atwood 1993; Simon & Schusters Guide to Orchids Fanfani & Rossi 1988; Orchids of Guatemala & Belize Ames & Correwll 1985; Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids Pridgeon 1982; Fieldiana Biology, Flora Costa Ricensis Family # 39 Orchidaceae, subtribes Maxillariinae and Oncidiinae Atwood & Mora 1997; Flora's Orchids Nash & La Croix 2005; Manual of Cultivated Orchids Bechtel, Cribb & Laurent 1982; Orquedias de El Salvador Hamer 1960; Vanishing Beauty; Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 1 Pupulin 2005

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------