Society News - What You Need to Know About our Thursday, October 16 Meeting This Week
- TBOS Notices
- Oct 13
- 4 min read
October 2025 Orchid Society Newsletter
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From Kathy Cox - our VP of Programs
Thursday - October 16
Guest Speaker - Topic
I'm happy to say that our speaker this month is our very own, and highly regarded Francisco Miranda, who will be speaking on “Genus Cattleya in Brazil-habitats and culture”.
Francisco Miranda was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 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. In 1982, he returned to Rio de Janeiro, where he began making field trips to Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo, mainly to try to find rupiculous Laelia species in their natural habitats.
Between 1983 and mid-1985, Francisco went back to Manaus, where he began his work on 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.
Francisco’s years of orchid field research have resulted in many new described species and several scientific papers in reviewed scientific journals of Brazil, the United States, and Germany, and also two books. The first one, published in Japan, of which he wrote about one-third, includes orchids from the eastern coast of Brazil plus the central region and mountains of Minas Gerais and Bahia states. The second book, published in 1996, covered the subject of the orchids of the Brazilian Amazon region. These two books are not taxonomic treatments, but rather illustrated guides on very interesting Brazilian areas.
Since 1988, Francisco has been going at least twice a year to the U.S. and other countries with the main purpose of giving lectures to orchid societies 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. In 1996, he was the Program Chairman for the 15th World Orchid Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Presently, he owns Boa Vista Orchids, a Haines City, Florida–based nursery, where high-quality species in the Cattleya alliance are being produced, continuing the Orquidário Boa Vista 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.
Since moving to the United States, Francisco has concentrated even more on giving lectures throughout the U.S., 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.
REMEMBER to Bring Your Beautiful Bloomers for Show and Tell
Review Meeting Minutes
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A vote to approve or amend will be taken at the Thursday, October 16 meeting.
Guests can view ALL the Greenhouse Chats on the scheduled date or Greenhouse Chat recorded webinars. AOS Members have access to ALL webinars by signing in on the AOS website. Follow the prompts on the AOS Webinars page. Greenhouse chats are summarized by topic. Search for similar issues and zero in on the appropriate time to get expert growing help.
Florida North-Central Judging Center - (Tampa) Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church
Contact: | Ryan Kowalczyk |
Email: | |
Website: | |
Additional Information: | Florida North-Central Judging Center - Tampa will hold monthly judging on the fourth week of the month, on a mixed schedule, Saturdays and Wednesdays, at Wesley Memorial Family Life Center, Fellowship Hall, 6100 Memorial Highway, Tampa, FL. Judging will begin at 9:30 AM on Saturdays. Judging will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesdays. Doors open 30 minutes prior to judging. |
To Keep Up With TBOS
Review the following pages on the TBOS website monthly
Title of Tabs
Home Page has the announcement date of our next meeting
Orchid Press Hot News - Our Digital Monthly Newsletter
Frequently Asked Orchid Questions - AOS, Webinar and Judging Center Information
Meeting Minutes - All TBOS Meeting Minutes (log in required)
Links - Preferred Ad Partner Information and other helpful orchid related links
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