Epidendrum circinatum Ames 1924 GROUP Spathiger SUBGROUP Circinatum type
Photo by © Franco Pupulin.
Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website
Common Name The Curled Epidendrum
Flower Size .6 to 7/8" [1.4 to 2.2 cm]
Found in Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia at elevations around 300 to 1000 meters as a medium to large sized, hot to warm growing epiphyte with terete at the base, compressed above stems enveloped in youth by amply loose, appressed sheaths and carrying 2 to 3, approximate, jointed, oblong to elliptic-oblong, coriaceous, bilobed apically, obliquely ascending leaves that blooms in the spring on a terminal, complanate, alate, to 9.2" [to 23 cm] long, to 13 flowered inflorescence subtended by conduplicate sheaths with decurrent keels.
"Epidendrum circinatum belongs to lhe
GROUP Spathiger characterized by the sympodial habit,
coriaceous leaves, racemose, distichous inflorescence and
fleshy green to purplish f1owers, and the SUBGROUP Circinatum which has large, secund f1owers. The species is
recognized by the large plants, its broadly laterally
compressed stems, the wide, elliptic to obovate-elliptic,
rounded, emarginate leaves, successive, non-resupinate
f1owers, the sepals and petals strongly coiled backwards, and
the paniculate, obovate to obscurely 3-lobed lip inflexed at
an angle of 90° with respect to the axis of the column. It is
similar to E. vexillium Hágsater, which has spreading sepals
and petals, and a subrectangular to suborbicular lip, wider
towards the base. Epidendrum galeochilum Hágsater is
vegetatively similar but has a c1eeply concave lip, reminiscent
of a pipe." Hagsater etal
CAUTION !!! the reference below of Misas 2006 puting this species in Colombia is incorrect, please continue to E vexillium which is the correct species for the Colombian citations.
Synonyms Epidendrum concavilabium C.Schweinf. 1937
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI *Sched. Orch. 7: 4. 1924; The Genus Epidendrum Ames 1936; Ceiba Vol 5 No 1 L O Williams 1956; AOS Bulletin Vol 38 No 3 1969 photo fide; Field Guide to the Orchids of Costa Rica and Panama Dressler 1993; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 1522 Atwood 1993 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 2 Plate 174 Hagsater & Sanchez 1993 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 3 Plate 395 Hagsater & Sanchez 1999 see recognition section; Manual de las Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 7 Plate 738 Hagsater & Sanchez 2004 see Recognition Section; Vanishing Beauty, Native Costa Rican Orchids Pupulin 2005 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 2 2006 photo fide; Orquideas de la Serrania del Baudo Misas Urreta 2006 as E concavilabium Drawing/Photo not = E vexillium; Icones Orchidacearum Vol 11 Plate 1111 Hagsater & Sanchez 2008 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 78 #6 2009 photo fide;Orchids of Costa Rica Vol 3 Morales 2009 photo fide;
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