Francisco Miranda
"The
Genus Laelia of Brazil"
Francisco Miranda was born in
Rio de Janeiro on February 6, 1956. He has
been growing orchids since 1979. The same year
he received his degree in biology and he began
his taxonomic studies of the orchid family in
1981. During that year, he lived in the city
of Manaus, state of Amazonas, in the middle of
the Amazon region.
During 1982 he returned to
Rio de Janeiro, He began field trips to Minas
Gerais and Espírito Santo, mainly to try to
find rupiculous Laelia species in their
natural habitat. Between mid 1985 and 1993
Francisco went back to Manaus, where he
studied for his Master’s degree. He also
made extensive field trips to Rondonia and the
area of the future dam of Tucuruí, in the
state of Pará. From the hundreds of herbarium
specimens prepared, many new species were
described in subsequent years, mostly in the
genus Catasetum and Mormodes. His thesis for
his Masters Degree was "section
Cattleyodes of the genus Laelia". He
continued to make frequent field trips to the
habitats of the Brazilian laelias.
The many years of orchid
hunting have resulted in many new species
described, several scientific papers in
magazines in Brazil, the U.S. and Germany and
two books. The first book was published in
Japan.
He wrote one third of the book on
orchids from the eastern coast of Brazil plus
the central region and mountains of Minas Gerais
and Bahia states. The second book was completed
in 1996 on orchids of the Brazilian Amazon
region. These two books are not taxonomic
treatments, but instead illustrated guides on
very interesting Brazilian areas. Since 1988,
the author has been traveling at least once a
year to the United States. His main purpose is
to give lectures to Orchid Societies on various
subjects on Brazilian orchids.
Since 1986 he opened an orchid
nursery in Rio de Janeiro, Orquidário Boa
Vista, specializing in producing superior
cultivars of Brazilian orchid species.
Presently, he is the proprietor of Boa Vista
Orchids, in new Haines City, Florida where
high-quality species in the Cattleya alliance
are being produced continuing the tradition of
he Orquidário Boa Vista nursery in Brazil.
RAFFLE TABLE will be provided
by Francisco Miranda who is known to have one of
the best collections of Brazilian orchids in the
world. He will also bring select plants
for sale.
PRE-PROGRAM 7:00
Renown Bay Area orchidist Bob
Hamilton will demonstrate how to deflask and
plant seedlings.
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