Francisco is a much sought-after speaker on Brazilian orchids. We have visited his nursery on west coast rambles, where we saw his amazing laelia collection and a huge variety of bifoliate cattleyas.
Francisco Miranda was born in Rio de Janeiro on February 6, 1956. He got his degree in Biology and begun his taxonomic studies in the orchid family in 1981. During the next 4 years, he lived most of the time in Manaus where he studied Amazon orchids and began his Master’s degree. Shortly after returning to Rio de Janeiro, the Master’s was completed on “section Cattleyodes of the genus Laelia” . Since then, the main interest has been on the Brazilian laelias and cattleyas.
He is the author of several papers ranging from species descriptions to subjects of growers’ interest in Brazilian, German and U.S. publications. He is also author of two books.
Since 2000, he lives in Haines City, Florida, where he operates Miranda Orchids, an orchid nursery specializing on Brazilian species and the Cattleya alliance. He also guides trips to Brazil and frequently visits Brazilian habitats to find new and/or interesting orchid species.
His presentation for our meeting is “The genus Cattleya in Brazil – country tour”