Icones: > Sophronitis cernua, at least as I understand it, is > not bird pollinated
Interesting. Has the natural pollinator for S. cernua been identified? I've seen ruby throated hummingbirds visiting my S. cernua, but I realize that doesn't tell us anything about the pollinator in nature. The birds also visit my Broughtonia sanguinea and Renanthera hybrid. Leo: > I am enjoying this exchange. This re-alignment of > Laelia seems to be driven by the enigma of one > species, S. cernua. I'm also enjoying the discussion. AFAIK, the problem was the position of all the "Sophronitis" species, not just S. cernua, as well as the observation that the Brazilian laelias weren't closely related to the Mexican laelias (which include the type species). Apparently, the Mexican/Brazilian split had also been noted on morphological grounds. These links are a little old, but still interesting: First, a paper by Chiron and Castro Neto which splits the Brazilian laelias into several genera, including Hadrolaelia, Hoffmannseggella, etc. Curiously, even when Laelia is split up, most of the "Sophronitis" are still placed in the same genus as Laelia tenebrosa and L. purpurata. Sophronitis cernua remains a Sophronitis, but the large flowered "Sophronitis" become Hadrolaelias along with the big Laelias. http://members.xoom.alice.it/orchidnews/on17/paginas/vitor01eng.htm Second, a response by van den Berg defending his co-authors decision to lump all the Brazilian plants in a broadly defined Sophronitis. http://members.xoom.alice.it/orchidnews/on20/pages/cassio01en.htm It will certainly be interesting to see what further research brings. Nick ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows. Yahoo! Answers - Check it out. http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545469 _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
