2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Gongora - a genus of herbaceous perennial epiphytic plants belonging to the Orchid family (Latin Orchidaceae). Orchids of this genus were among the first orchids described by European botanists. They have a very original flower shape, hanging upside down (with the lip located on top) on their almost round-curved long pedicels. The shape of the flowers attunes the observer to the fact that the name of the genus is associated with some mythical monster from ancient Greek legends, but this view is deceiving.
What's in your name
Since most of the plant species of this genus were found in Colombia, botanists decided to perpetuate the memory of Antonio Caballero and Gongora in the Latin name of the genus (Antonio Caballero y Gongora, 1723-24-05 - 1796-24-03), who was the Spanish Catholic prelate in the colony New Granada, and then the governor of this viceroyalty, located in the modern territory of Colombia and Ecuador. Interestingly, he got the name "Gongora" on the maternal side.
The genus has a synonym name - "Acropera", assigned to the genus by the botanist John Lindley (1799 - 1865) in 1833.
In the floriculture literature, the three-letter abbreviation of the genus name is used - "Gga".
Description
The diversity and multiplicity of representatives of the plant kingdom of Orchids causes difficulties for botanists in describing plants and dividing them according to classification "shelves". These difficulties also apply to plants of the genus Gongora, many of whose species do not have a correct description. Although Gongora was one of the first orchids described by Old World botanists.
Over the past ten years, botanists have discovered new species of the genus Gongora, at the same time, many species previously assigned to the genus have been transferred to other genera.
Those species that are still filling the ranks of the genus Gongora are plants with a sympodial type of shoot growth.
The aerial roots of epiphytic plants are very thin, white, and grow in a dense, compact community. Some roots prefer not to hang down, but grow vertically upward, forming a ball of aerial roots.
If many species of terrestrial orchids of other genera create a partnership with fungal mycorrhiza, then species of the genus Gongora are seen in collaboration with ant nests.
Convex pseudobulbs of plants of the genus have a conical shape and grow in length up to 8 centimeters. Each pseudobulb gives birth to two alternative, broadly lanceolate, rather leathery leaves with noticeable numerous veins. The leaves can be up to 30 centimeters long.
From the base of the pseudobulbs, peduncles appear, at first growing vertically, but very quickly beginning to bend, turning into hanging ones. In some species, for example, in "Gongora similis", one pseudobulb can consistently show the world up to six inflorescences.
A characteristic feature of the plants of the genus Gongora are long, almost round-curved pedicels, on which numerous flowers hang upside down along the entire peduncle. Unlike most orchids, in which the lip is located in the lower part of the flower, the lip of a flower of this genus is located in the upper part, and therefore it seems to lose the meaning of its name, more resembling a crown than a lip.
Some species show waxy flowers. Flowers of many species have their own specific odor, by which connoisseurs can determine the type of plant. For example, for some it is the scent of cinnamon or cardamom, for others it is nutmeg, and still others smell like the wax of an unburned candle. The color of the flowers is very diverse.
Varieties
The genus Gongora has about 70 species of epiphytic plants growing in the wild in the tropical forests of Central and South America.
Some species are used as indoor plants, growing orchids in blocks or in baskets for epiphytic plants. After the flowering period, most species are dormant for a couple of weeks.
