NEXT MONTHLY MEETING:
October 9
6:30 -7:00 Orchid Doctor Pam Larocco-bring your sick orchid for diagnosis
6:30-7:00 Social hour/ sale of orchids by Francisco Miranda (Cattleya’s and other Brazilian orchids)
7:00-7:30 Business meeting
7:40-8:30 Featured speaker: Francisco Miranda discussing “Brazilian Orchid Habitats–the Amazon”
8:30-9:00 Show-N-tell, raffle, plant sales
9:00 Adjourn
Francisco Miranda – Biography
Francisco Miranda was born in Rio de Janeiro, on February 6, 1956. He has been growing orchids since 1979, the same year he got his degree in biology, and in 1981 he began his taxonomic studies of the orchid family. During 1981, he lived from March to November in the city of Manaus, in the state of Amazonas, which is in the middle of the Amazon region. During 1982 he returned to Rio de Janeiro, where he began field trips to Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo, mainly to try to find rupiculous Laelia species in their natural habitats. Between 1993 and mid 1985, Francisco went back to Manaus, where he began his Master’s degree and continued to make 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 genera of Catasetum and Mormodes. In mid-1985, Francisco finished his Master’s degree and his thesis, “Section Cattleyodes of the genus Laelia” , and continued to make frequent field trips to the habitats of the brazilian laelias. These years of orchid field research have resulted in many new described species and several scientific papers in reviewed scientific journals of Brazil, the U.S. and Germany, and also two books. The first one, published in Japan, of which he wrote about one third of it, including orchids from the eastern coast of Brazil plus central region and mountains of Minas Gerais and Bahia states. The second one was published in 1996, on the subject of the orchids of the brazilian Amazon region. These two books are not taxonomic treatments, but instead illustrated guides on very interesting Brazilian areas. In 1996, he was the Program Chairman for the 15th WOC in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Since 1988, the author has been going at least twice a year to the United States and other countries with the main purpose of giving lectures to Orchid Societies on several different subjects on brazilian orchids. From 1986 to 2000, he owned an orchid nursery in Rio de Janeiro, Orquidário Boa Vista, specializing in producing superior cultivars of brazilian orchid species. Presently, he owns Boa Vista Orchids, a Haines City, Florida-based nursery, where high-quality species in the Cattleya alliance are being produced and continuing the Orquidário Boa Vista’s tradition. Since 2001, he has been a qualified Taxonomic Authority for the American Orchid Society, specializing in the determination of Brazilian orchids, mainly of the Cattleya alliance. And since moving to the United States, he concentrated even more in giving lectures throughout the country, neighboring Canada and also in Brazil. More recently he resumed his taxonomic work and is guiding tours to Brazil on a more regular basis with the main objectives of orchid observation, photography and conservation awareness.
FUTURE MEETINGS:
Next up:
November 13 Michael Hinshaw speaking on culture of Phalaenopsis with sales of seedlings and divisions of plants (mostly not Phalaenopsis)
December 11 Annual Holiday Party and Awards Dinner
Other events:
September 27-29 KOS annual show and sale
October 19 KOS annual picnic at Debbie Hannah’s house
Nov 10 Educational event on orchids to be presented by KOS in conjunction with Waterfront Botanical Gardens at their new education center at Franfort Ave. and River Road. See their website to sign up
