Cattleya trianae

Flor de Mayo
Cattleya trianae
Conservation status
CITES Appendix II (CITES)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Tribe: Epidendreae
Subtribe: Laeliinae
Alliance: Cattleya
Genus: Cattleya
Subgenus: Cattleya subg. Cattleya
Section: Cattleya sect. Cattleya
Species: C. trianae
Binomial name
Cattleya trianae
Lindl Prodr.: 324, 1810

Cattleya trianae (Lindl & Rchb. fil), also known as Flor de Mayo ("May flower") or "Christmas orchid",[1] is a plant belonging to the Orchidaceae family. It grows as an epiphytic orchid, with succulent leaves, endemic to Colombia where it was nominated as the national flower in November 1936. That year, the National Academy of History of Argentina asked the Latin American countries to participate in an exhibition with the representative flowers of each country. The Colombian government gave the botanist Emilio Robledo the task to designate the most representative flowering plant of the country.

The choice of Cattleya trianae was made for two main reasons:

The species grows at 1500–2000 meters above sea level, in Cloud forests. It is an endangered species due to habitat destruction.[2]

The diploid chromosome number of C. trinae has been determined as 2n = 40. the haploid chromosome number has been determined as n = 20.[3]

References

  1. http://orchidlady.com/pages/orchidGarden/ChristmasPartTwo.html
  2. Franco, Marcela; Giovany Guevara; Neftali Mesa; Gloria Urueña (June 2007). "Hardening of the national flower of Colombia, the threatened Cattleya trianae (Orchidaceae), from in vitro culture with previous invigoration phase". Revista de Biología Tropical 55 (2): 681–691. ISSN 0034-7744. Retrieved 2013-04-08.
  3. page 251 of L. P. Felix and M. Guerra: "Variation in chromosome number and the basic number of subfamily Epidendroideae (Orchidaceae)" Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 163(2010)234—278. The Linnean Society of London. Downloaded October 2010 from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1095-8339.2010.01059.x/abstract

External links

External identifiers for Cattleya trianae
NCBI 142280
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cattleya trianae.