Epidendrum frutex
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Genus: Epidendrum
Subgenus: Epidendrum subg. Epidendrum
Section: Epidendrum sect. Planifolia
Subsection: Epidendrum subsect. Paniculata
Species:
E. frutex
Binomial name
Epidendrum frutex
Rchb.f. (1855)

Epidendrum frutex is a high-altitude species of reed-stemmed Epidendrum orchid native to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.[1]

Description

E. frutex Rchb.f. (1855) is closely related to E. frigidum Lind. (1855),[2] growing terrestrially in "open sphagnum uplands".[3] The tall sympodial plants grow from 3/4 to 5 m tall. As is typical of the subgenus E. subg. Epidendrum, the stems are covered from the base with distichous, tubular, leaf-bearing sheaths. The narrow leathery leaves of E. frutex can grow more than 2 dm long. The terminal inflorescence is a distichous (not secund) compound panicle bearing numerous small, fleshy yellow to green to brown flowers. The triangular sepals are no longer than 6 mm. The linear petals are slightly shorter than the sepals. The lip is adnate to the column to its apex, heart-shaped where it diverges from the column, broader than it is long, and not divided into lobes. A linear keel runs down the center of the lip.

This large Epidendrum is notable for producing seed capsules that are more than ten times the size of the flowers.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew".
  2. ↑ H. G. Reichenbach, "ORCHIDES", nr. 358 in C. Müller, Ed. Walpers Annales Botanices Systematicae 6(1861)411-412. Berlin.
  3. ↑ Schweinfurth. "Orchids of Peru" Fieldiana: Botany 30(1959)445. Field Museum, Chicago, IL
  4. ↑ The Internet Orchid Species Photo Encyclopedia


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