Swallow-Tailed Hummingbird, Environmentalist Augusto Ruschi & Cattleya Orchids 500 Cruzieros Brazil Authentic Banknote Money for Collage

Swallow-Tailed Hummingbird, Environmentalist Augusto Ruschi & Cattleya Orchids 500 Cruzieros Brazil Authentic Banknote Money for Jewelry and Collage

Reverse: Polychromy in chalcography.
Augusto Ruschi (1915-1986) examining orchids, highlighting the figure of a Swallow-Tailed Hummingbird
Lettering: 500
500 QUINHENTOS CRUZADOS NOVOS
Translation: 500
500 hundred Cruzados Novos

Obverse: Polychromy in chalcography and offset.
In the right, portrait of scientist Augusto Ruschi (1915-1986), flanked by allegories of flora and fauna, highlighting a representation of Cattleya Labiata and Cattleya Warneri, two orchids that, with dozens of varieties, are the most typical of Espírito Santo and the largest flowers of the Cattleya species in Brazil.
In the center rectangular stamp of 500 Cruzeiros.
Lettering: BANCO CENTRAL DO BRASIL 500
500 CRUZEIROS
MINISTRO DA FAZENDA
PRESIDENTE DO
BANCO CENTRAL DO BRASIL
AUGUSTO RUSCHI
CASA DA MOEDA DO BRASIL
500 QUINHENTOS CRUZADOS NOVOS
Translation: Brazilian Central Bank 500
500 Cruzeiros
Finance Minister
President of the Brazilian Central Bank
Augusto Ruschi
Brazilian Mint
500 hundred Cruzeiros

Watermark: Effigy of the Republic

Features
Issuer Brazil
Period Federative Republic of Brazil (1967-date)
Type Standard banknote
Year 1990
Value 500 Cruzeiros (500.00 BRE)
Currency Cruzeiro (1990-1993)
Composition Paper
Size 140 × 65 mm
Shape Rectangular
Demonetized 31 July 1993
Number N# 202105
References P# 226

Wikipedia:
The swallow-tailed hummingbird (Eupetomena macroura) is a species in the hummingbird family (Trochilidae), found mainly in east-central South America. Most authorities place it in the genus Eupetomena, although some place it in Campylopterus based on song and the thick shafts of the males' first primaries. Its common name and specific epithet (which means "large-tailed") both refer to the long, deeply forked, somewhat swallow-like tail.

With a total length of 15–17 cm (6–6+1⁄2 in), nearly half of which is made up by the tail, and weighing up to 9 g (0.32 oz), this is a relatively large hummingbird. Indeed, in much of its range it is the largest species of typical hummingbird. Its wings are also nearly 8 cm long – quite much for its size by hummingbird standards – though its bill is only of mediocre length, with c. 21 mm (0.83 in) not longer in absolute terms than that of many smaller relatives.

Its plumage is brilliant iridescent green, with a blue head, upper chest, tail and vent. The tiny white spot behind the eye, common among hummingbirds, is often not visible in this species, but the white ankle tufts, also common among the Trochilinae, are well-developed. The remiges are blackish-brown. It has a slightly decurved medium-long black bill. The sexes are very similar, but females are about one-fourth smaller and slightly duller than males on average. Immature birds appear like females, but their heads are particularly dull and brownish-tinged.

Its voice includes relatively loud psek notes and weaker twitters. A tik call is given when excited or alarmed.

It is aggressive and will defend rich food sources from other nectarivores; due to its size, it is generally dominant over other species of hummingbirds. Even much larger birds are attacked by diving at them when they perch; particularly when breeding the swallow-tailed hummingbird will go and "dive-bomb" birds twice its own length or more, such as Campo flickers (Colaptes campestris), curl-crested jays (Cyanocorax cristatellus) or smooth-billed anis (Crotophaga ani), until they have enough and leave. Disturbed by much larger birds such as Guira cuckoos (Guira guira) or hawks, it will usually just give warning calls, but a female swallow-tailed hummingbird has been observed to attack a Swainson's hawk (Buteo swainsonii) – weighing more than a hundred times as much as the hummingbird – in mid-air. Warning calls are also given at mammalian carnivores and humans, though in urban environment this hummingbird may tolerate human observers for prolonged time, even when nesting, if they keep a distance of 10 meters or so.

In a study of a nest in urban São Paulo, it was noted that the swallow-tailed hummingbird mother drove away ruddy ground doves (Columbina talpacoti) attempting to nest nearby. Far more placid, cumbersome and meaty birds than the hummingbird, these small doves often become prey to smaller carnivores, and by chasing away the doves the hummingbird would have lowered attractiveness to its nest's surroundings to such predators. Smaller mammals, such as the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) may occasionally plunder swallow-tailed hummingbird nests, despite the birds' attempts to defend their offspring.

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Wikipedia:
Augusto Ruschi (December 12, 1915 — June 3, 1986) was a Brazilian agronomist, ecologist, and naturalist.

Ruschi was interested in the study of plants and animals since childhood, allowing him to know in depth several branches of biology, becoming a respected specialist in hummingbirds and orchids in Brazil. He was a Full Professor at UFRJ and a researcher at the National Museum, however, his technical-scientific production has been challenged by current experts. By virtue of his research, he also left a large collection of photographs and produced numerous scientific drawings. He helped fight pests in agriculture, establish several ecological reserves, such as the Caparaó National Park, and spread the word about the wonders of nature. He set up two scientific institutions, namely: the Professor Mello Leitão Biology Museum and the Ruschi Marine Biology Station.

He was a controversial figure, active and notorious defender of the environment, he was involved in several public disputes with companies and authorities for environmental preservation, highlighting the conflict with the Governor of Espírito Santo, Élcio Álvares, in 1977, regarding the installation of a palm heart factory in the Santa Lucia Biological Reserve. He was also a pioneer in combating deforestation in the Amazon and anticipated the harmful effects of monocultural eucalyptus plantations and the use of pesticides, among other contemporary environmental problems.

His remarkable contribution to environmentalism and to the sciences, expressed in his actions and in his more than 400 articles and more than 20 scientific books, was consecrated through the respect he earned among scholars of his time and the many honors he received during his lifetime. and posthumously. In 1994, through federal law, he was granted the title of Patron of Ecology in Brazil, being also one of the world icons of environmental protection.

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Wikipedia:
Cattleya labiata, also known as the crimson cattleya or ruby-lipped cattleya, is the type species of Cattleya, discovered in 1818 in Brazil.

This plant grows in the northeastern area of Brazil, in the states of Pernambuco and Alagoas. They grow to different sizes depending on the area from which they originate. Those that are growing in Pernambuco are smaller, with small but colored flowers, with most of them being lilac. The interior part of the flower is a dark lilac color. Plants from Alagoas are bigger and have larger flowers. Some varieties, such as Cattleya labiata var. semialba, have large white flowers with a touch of yellow. There is another variety of semialba, with lilac in the inferior part of the flower. This plant is an epiphyte, growing up in trees, where light is plentiful. However, there are also many other places where this plant could grow, such as directly on rock with very little soil.

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Cattleya warneri
As the newness of spring begins to wane and the summer sun smiles down from its place high in the sky, we find ourselves with a greenhouse full of the lovely Brazilian Cattleya warneri. This delightful species provides a display of lavender and purple that rivals and is reminiscent of its autumn-flowering sister from Brazil,Cattleya labiata. Were it not for their wide difference in blooming season, the flowers of one could easily be mistaken for the other.

The two major large-flowered Brazilian Cattleya species, C. labiata and C. warneri are no strangers to each other in botanical and horticultural lore. Few orchids have been haunted so much by a closely related species as C. warneri has by C. labiata. Cattleya warneri’s similarity toC. labiata has clouded its past and often unsettled its future, and the problems started even before C. warneri was officially discovered.

The first European to find C. warneri was the naturalist Dr. George Gardner, who found it in the Brazilian province of Minas Gerais during a trip in the late 1830s. Unfortunately for C. warneri, Gardner was convinced he had rediscovered the lost C. labiata, soC. warneri started its trip into the wonderland of orchid nomenclature as “Cattleya labiata” and there it stayed for the next 25 years.

In August 1862, all this changed when Robert Warner, a prominent orchidist of the time, published his magnificent Selected Orchidaceous Plants, in which he pictured four gorgeous lavender flowers under the name “Cattleya warneri,” and included a botanical description of the new species by MS Moore. Warner pointed out in the text that C. warneri had to be a new species and not a C. labiata, because it flowered at a completely different time of the year than C. labiata.

The 1880s, however, were not so kind to C. warneri. During this period, the eminent horticulturalist James O’Brien championed the idea that all the large-flowered Cattleyas should be species in their own right and not subspecies or varieties of C. labiata. O’Brien argued that these species were distinct and individual horticulturally and not at all like C. labiata. The only plant he left under C. labiatain the old mold was C. warneri, which remained C. labiata var.warneri for no apparent reason other than, like C. labiata, it came from Brazil. With time, however, C. warneri slowly rose to the same rank as the other large-flowered Cattleyas, and today it is accepted as a distinct species.

Cattleya warneri has several characteristics that make it different from C. labiata. Cattleya warneri has shorter and stouter pseudobulbs than C. labiata and produces a more compact plant. The leaves of C. warneri are broader than those of C. labiata, and although they both have characteristic double sheaths, recent work by Érico de Freitas Machado in Brazil suggests that the double sheaths may not really be the same.

The most obvious difference between the species, of course, is the one Robert Warner alluded to in his original description in 1862 — their different flowering season. Cattleya warneri flowers in the spring (late May and June in the United States), while C. labiata is an autumn bloomer (September through November). The two species also make new growths at different times of the year: C. warneri in the autumn and winter, and C. labiata in the spring and summer. They also root at different times in their growth cycle – one before flowering, the other after flowering. (Rogerson; Orchid Digest 68-4, pg 203) These differences in growth, rooting and flowering periods exist even when C. labiata and C. warneri are grown side by side on the same bench in the same greenhouse, so they are inherent in the plants and are not caused by environmental or regional factors, as some have suggested.

Source: https://chadwickorchids.com/content/cattleya-warneri

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Wikipedia:
The Efígie da República (Portuguese for Effigy of the Republic) is used as a national personification, both in Brazil and in Portugal, symbolizing the Republic.

Brazil
The effigy is a representation of a young woman wearing a crown of bay leaves in Roman style and a phrygian cap. It is present in allegoric paintings and sculptures displayed in government buildings throughout Brazil, and engraved on Brazilian real coins and banknotes. It was first used as a pro-Republican icon in the 19th century, inspired by France's Marianne. After the proclamation of the Republic in 1889, it became an important symbol of the newly formed Republic.