Epidendrum humidicola Schltr. 1922 GROUP Pseudepidendrum SUBGROUP Paniculatum
photo by © Roberto Vasquez
Drawing by © Jimenez and The AMO Herbaria Website
TYPE Drawing by Schlechter
LATER 
Common Name The Moisture-Loving Epidendrum
Flower Size .8" [2 cm]
Found in central Bolivia on the eastern slope of the Cordillera Oriental and adjacent Peru at elevations around 1450 meters as a large sized, cool growing terrestrial with simple, cane-like, terete, erect stems carrying 10, all along the stem, articulate, distichous, erect, unequal in size, basal smaller, oblong-elliptic, acuminate, margin entire leaves that blooms in the later summer on a terminal, without a spathe, paniculate, occuring only once, sub-erect, peduncle 1.2 to 1.6" [3 to 4 cm] long, laterally compressed, with a single, conduplicate, acuminate bract, rachis 6 branched, each few to many flowered, each branch 4 to 5.6" [10 to 14 cm] long, each branch with a basal, narrowly triangular, long-acuminate, clasping bract, 10" [25 cm] long overall, simultaneously 160 flowered inflorescence with shorter than the ovary, narrowly triangular, acuminate, clasping floral bracts and carrying resupinate flowers without color or fragrance data.
Schlechter originally wrote about this species in 1916 as Epidendrum crassinervium Kraenzlin 1905 but he realized that it was a separate species, so in 1922 he redescribed it as E humidicolum, which is equivalent to E humidicola the presently accepted name.
"Epidendrum humidicolum belongs to the GROUP Pseudepidendrum which is characterized by caespitose plants, cane-like stems, acute to acuminate leaves, usually apical inflorescence, the filiform petals and the lip usually 3-lobed with 3 parallel fleshy keels, the apical lobe often bifurcate, the “bird-wing” type pollinia and SUBGROUP Paniculatum which has bicolored flowers, generally green with the lip and apex of the column white and the disc sometimes marked with purple to red. The species is recognized by the medium sized plants up to 28" [70 cm] tall with an erect, paniculate inflorescence with up to 160 flowers, sepals .4" [10 mm] long, the 3-lobed lip with sub-quadrate lateral lobes, and the mid-lobe short, bifid and strongly divaricate. Epidendrum crassinervium Kraenzlin, has plants of the same size but more robust, thicker stems, ovary ornamented and the pollinia somewhat flattened but not “birdwing” type. Epidendrum yungasense Rolfe is vegetatively very similar, but the plants are smaller ca. 16" [40 cm] tall, sepals .24 to .32" [6 to 8 mm] long." Hagsater etal 2010
Synonyms Epidendrum crassinervium Schltr. 1916
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 10: 44 Schlechter 1922 as E humidicolum; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 10: 70 Schlechter 1922; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. Altlas Figuren 57: 540 Schlechter 1929 as E humidicolum Drawing fide; Orchids of Bolivia Vol II Laelinae Vasquez & Ibisch 2004 drawing/photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1323 Hagsater & Santiago 2010 See recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1340 Hagsater 2010 drawing fide;
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