- published: 12 Dec 2015
- views: 114
Ada, abbreviated as Ada in horticultural trade, is a genus of 16 species in the orchid family (Orchidaceae), subfamily Epidendroideae, tribe Cymbidieae, subtribe Oncidiinae, alliance Oncidium. The type species is Ada aurantiaca.
These are epiphytic or lithophytic orchids. They are native to Nicaragua down to northern South America, down the Andes to Bolivia. They are warm to cool-growing plants to be found in wet, montane forests at higher elevations, between 650 and 2700 m, but most between 1800 to 2200 m.
The lanceolate leaves are distichous (growing in two ranks) with a length of 20 cm, growing on pseudobulbs with a maximum length of 10 cm. The foliaceous leaf sheaths are well-developed.
The pendent and spectacularly colorful inflorescences do not grow above the leaves. They can produce up to 15 fragrant flowers, blooming from January till April. The color can vary from white to greenish and orange. The perianth is narrow and pointed, with almost similar sepals and petals.. The floral bracts are large and inflated.
Ada may refer to:
Orchidaceae is a diverse and widespread family of flowering plants, with blooms that are often colourful and often fragrant, commonly known as the orchid family. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering plants. Orchidaceae has about 27,800 currently accepted species, distributed in about 880 genera. The determination of which family is larger is still under debate, because verified data on the members of such enormous families are continually in flux. Regardless, the number of orchid species nearly equals the number of bony fishes and is more than twice the number of bird species, and about four times the number of mammal species. The family also encompasses about 6–11% of all seed plants. The largest genera are Bulbophyllum (2,000 species), Epidendrum (1,500 species), Dendrobium (1,400 species) and Pleurothallis (1,000 species).
The family also includes Vanilla (the genus of the vanilla plant), Orchis (type genus), and many commonly cultivated plants such as Phalaenopsis and Cattleya. Moreover, since the introduction of tropical species into cultivation in the 19th century, horticulturists have produced more than 100,000 hybrids and cultivars.