Epidendrum eburneum Rchb. f. 1867 GROUP Nocturnum SUBGROUP Nocturnum
Photo by © Pieter C. Brouwer and his Nature Photo Website
Photo by © Daniel Jimenez
TYPE Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website
Common Name or Meaning The Ivory-Colored Epidendrum
Flower Size 2 2/5" [6 cm]
Found in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama low on tree trunks at elevations of sealevel to 500 meters as a small to large sized, hot growing epiphyte with an erect, terete stem enveloped basally by several, tubular, scarious sheaths and carrying a few, coriaceous, dorsally carinate, narrowly elliptic, conduplicate below and basally clasping leaves that blooms in the fall and winter on an axillary, fractiflex, successively 4 to 6 flowered inflorescence carrying nocturnaly fragrant flowers.
" Epidendrum eburneum belongs to the GROUP Nocturnum which is characterized by the sympodial, caespitose plants, short, racemose or pluri-racemose inflorescence, wilhout spathaceous bracts, usually large, star-shaped flowers, with similar sepals and petals, and the SUBGROUP Nocturnum which has cane-like stems, non-thickened towards the middle, and usually successive flowers; the flowers are mostly indistinguishable in shape, The species can be recognized by the laterally compressed stems, entire, suborbicular lip, rarely with a sinus on each side of the apicule, and then the apex 3-lobed, ovary .12 to .28" [30 to 70 mm] long; the body of the capsule occupying much of the ovary and slightly aboye the middle. It is similar to Epidendrum nocturnum Jacq., a wide-spread species, with terete stems, deeply 3-lobed lip, and the body of the capsule is .18 to .248" [45 to 62 mm] long, with the body of the capsule in the middle and occupying nearly the whole length. Epidendrum angustilobum Fawc. & Rendle (syn: Epidendrum latifolium (Lindl.) Garay & Sweet) which is widely distributed in the Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela and the Guyanas, and rare in Costa Rica and Panama has widely ancipitose stems, a deeply 3-lobed lip, and long ovary 4.8 to 8 [120 to 200 mm], wide leaves .8 to 2.8" [2 to 7 cm], and the body of the capsule short, aboye the middle of the ovary. Epidendrum mesocarpum Hágsater is found at higher altitudes of 900 to 2000 meters from the border of the states Oaxaca and Chiapas of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, and has short, ancipitose stems, a deeply 3-lobed lip, and the ovary 4.8 to 6.4" [120 to 160 mm] long, with the body of the capsule elongate, slightly above the middle of the ovary. Epidendrum nocteburneum Hágsater & L.Sánchez the natural hybrid between E. nocturnum and E. eburneum is known from Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, and has a clearly 3-lobed lip, and the body of the capsule occupies 1/4 of the ovary." Hagsater etal 2008
Synonyms Epidendrum leucocardium Schltr. 1913
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 17: 31. Panama Schlechter 1922; The Genus Epidendrum Ames 1936; The Orchids of Panama L.O. Williams & P Allen 1946; Ceiba Vol 5 No 1 L O Williams 1956; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; Field Guide to the Orchids of Costa Rica and Panama Dressler 1993; Vanishing Beauty, Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 1 Pupulin 2005 photo fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 715 Hamer 1982 drawing fide; Selbyana Vol 10 Orchids of Central America Hamer 1988 drawing fide; Manual Of Orchids Stewart 1995; Manual de las Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003; Icones Orchidacearum Vol 11 Plate 1121 Hagsater & Sanchez 2008 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 11 Plate 1148 Hagsater 2008 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 11 Plate 1149 Hagsater 2008 see recognition section; Orchids of Costa Rica Vol 3 Morales 2009 photo fide;
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