parent_taxon potinara
A flower , sometimes known as a bloom or blossom , is the reproductive structure found in plants that are floral ( plants of the division ___MASK74___ , also called angiosperms ). The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction , usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs . Flowers may facilitate outcrossing ( fusion of sperm and eggs from different individuals in a population ) or allow selfing ( fusion of sperm and egg from the same flower ). Some flowers produce diaspores without fertilization ( parthenocarpy ). Flowers contain sporangia and are the site where gametophytes develop . Many flowers have evolved to be attractive to animals , so as to cause them to be vectors for the transfer of pollen . After fertilization , the ovary of the flower develops into fruit containing seeds . In ancient Rome , the Vestals or Vestal Virgins ( Latin : " Vestls ", singular " Vestlis " ) were priestesses of Vesta , goddess of the hearth . The College of the Vestals and its well - being were regarded as fundamental to the continuance and security of Rome . They cultivated the sacred fire that was not allowed to go out . The Vestals were freed of the usual social obligations to marry and ___MASK96___ children , and took a vow of chastity in order to devote themselves to the study and correct observance of state rituals that were off - limits to the male colleges of priests . Potinara , abbreviated Pot in the horticultural trade , is the nothogenus comprising those intergeneric hybrids of orchids which have ___MASK42___ , Cattleya , Laelia and Sophronitis as parent genera . It can easily be imagined that a combination of all the desirable qualities of the four genera would be an outstandingly handsome thing . However , plants in which all the desired qualities show up occur in only a small proportion of the offspring , and the percentage of plants homozygous for all qualities even less often . A rather extensive breeding program would be necessary to achieve the ideal results . Many lovely combinations do occur in Potinara crosses , although relatively few have been made . The search for a way to breed large red hybrids has been given a new boost with the discovery of Cattleya milleri . It is hoped that this species will not offer the genetic difficulties that have plagued hybridists using Sophronitis . Some encouraging results have already been achieved . ( C . milleri is one of the grandparents of the pictured Brassocattleya Hoku Gem . ) The ___MASK93___ are a diverse and widespread family of flowering plants , with blooms that are often colourful and often fragrant , commonly known as the orchid family . ___MASK75___ , officially the Argentine Republic , is a federal republic in the southern half of South America . Sharing the bulk of the Southern Cone with its neighbor Chile to the west , the country is also bordered by Bolivia and Paraguay to the north , Brazil to the northeast , Uruguay and the South Atlantic Ocean to the east , and the Drake Passage to the south . With a mainland area of , ___MASK75___ is the eighth - largest country in the world , the second largest in Latin America , and the largest Spanish - speaking one . The country is subdivided into twenty - three provinces ( singular " provincia ") and one autonomous city (" ciudad autónoma "), Buenos Aires , which is the federal capital of the nation as decided by Congress . The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions , but exist under a federal system . ___MASK42___ is a genus of 21 orchids ( family ___MASK93___ ). They were named in 1813 by the Scottish botanist Robert Brown . The name comes from the Italian nobleman and physician Antonio Musa ___MASK42___ . This genus is abbreviated B . in trade journals . Antonio ___MASK47___ ___MASK42___ ( variously spelled Brasavoli , Brasavola , or Brasavoli , 16 January 1500  1555 ) was an Italian physician and one of the most famous of his time . He studied under Niccolò Leoniceno and Giovanni Manardo . He was the friend and physician of Ercolo II , the prince of Este . He was also the consulting physician of Kings Francis I , Charles V , Henry VIII and Popes Paul III , Leo X , Clement VIII and Julius III . He performed the first successful tracheotomy , and published an account of it in 1546 . He was the chair of philosophy in Ferrara and also studied botany and medicine . A genus of orchid , called ___MASK42___ , is named after him . Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in both South America and Latin America . As the world ' s fifth - largest country by both ___MASK20___ and population , it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language and the only one in the Americas . Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east , Brazil has a coastline of . It borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile and covers 47 . 3 % of the continent ' s land ___MASK20___ . Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest , home to diverse wildlife , a variety of ecological systems , and extensive natural resources spanning numerous protected habitats . This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries , and is the subject of significant global interest and debate regarding deforestation and environmental protection . ___MASK7___ is a small genus of 25 species from the orchid family ( ___MASK93___ ). This is one of the most important and popular orchid genera , because of the beautiful flowers , their genetic properties and because they are fairly easy to cultivate . John Lindley did not specify his reasons for naming this orchid as he did ; one possibility is that he named it after ___MASK7___ , one of the Vestal Virgins . " ___MASK7___ " is abbreviated L . in the horticultural trade . Sophronitis , abbreviated Soph in horticultural trade , is a former genus of small , epiphytic or lithophytic orchids , growing in the damp montane forest of eastern Brazil , Paraguay and NE ___MASK75___ . In January 2008 , the International Orchid Committee voted to reduce " Sophronitis " to synonymy under " ___MASK9___ ". The Royal Horticultural Society ( RHS ) has already moved a hybrid of the rupicolous " Laelia " that had been renamed " Sophronitis esalqueana " into the genus " ___MASK9___ ". Prior to this change , 65 species were recognized . Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in central South America , bordered by ___MASK75___ to the south and southwest , Brazil to the east and northeast , and Bolivia to the northwest . Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River , which runs through the center of the country from north to south . Due to its central location in South America , it is sometimes referred to as " Corazón de Sudamérica " (" Heart of South America "). Paraguay is one of the two landlocked countries ( the other is Bolivia ) that lie outside Afro - Eurasia . Paraguay is the smallest landlocked country in the Americas . ___MASK9___ labiata , also known as the Crimson ___MASK9___ or Ruby - lipped ___MASK9___ , is the type species of " ___MASK9___ ", discovered in 1818 in Brazil . Costa Rica ( literally meaning " Rich Coast "), officially the Republic of Costa Rica , is a country in Central America , bordered by Nicaragua to the north , Panama to the southeast , the Pacific Ocean to the west , the Caribbean Sea to the east , and Ecuador to the south of ___MASK54___ Island . It has a population of around 4 . 5 million , of whom nearly a quarter live in the metropolitan area of the capital and largest city , San José . ___MASK9___ is a genus of 113 species of orchids from Costa Rica and the Lesser Antilles south to Argentina . The genus was named in 1824 by John Lindley after William Cattley who received and was the first to bloom a specimen of " ___MASK9___ labiata ". William Swainson had discovered the new plant in Pernambuco , Brazil , in 1817 and shipped to the Glasgow Botanic Gardens for identification . Swainson requested that a few plants be later sent to Cattley , who was able to bloom one a full year before the plants in Glasgow . It would be another 70 years before they would be rediscovered in the wild because of a mixup in the assumed location of the plants . The genus is abbreviated C in trade journals .