Epidendrum mirabile Ames & C. Schweinf. 1930 GROUP Ramosum SUBGROUP Mirabile Type for subgroup

Photo by © Lourens Grobler

Drawing Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website

Common Name The Wonderful Epidendrum

Flower Size 2.4" [6 cm]

Found in Costa Rica on moss covered trunks and branches of oaks as a large to giant sized, cool growing species occuring at an elevation of 1100 to 2000 meters with terete, cane-like, straight stems with each successive stem arising from the subapical node of the previous stem and carrying numerous, alternate, distrubuted throughout the stem, articulate, narrowly lanceolate-elliptic, unequally bilobed, subcoriaceous, the lower and apical smaller leaves that blooms in the fall on a terminal, short, densely few to several flowered, racemose inflorescence with equal to longer than the ovary, ovate, conduplicate, non-imbricating floral bracts and carrying 1 to 3 mostly 2, simultaneously opening, very fragrant flowers.

This species has one of the largest flowers of the section, a 2.4" [6 cm] wide and rose-purple in color that arise in pairs on 8 to 32" [20 to 80 cm] long, simple stems producing new ones from the basal or apical nodes and carrying 2 to 3.8" [5 to 9.5 cm] long leaves distinguish this species.

"Epidendrum mirabile belongs to the GROUP Ramosum which is characterized by the monopodial, branching stems, the spike-like, distichous inflorescence, and the single callus, and the SUBGROUP Mirabile which has pendent plants, successive stems produced from a middle internode of the previous stem, without any evident main stem; the flowers white to purple and mostly very fragrant. The species is recognized by the largest flowers in the group, sepals 1.08 to 1.46" [27 to 36 mm] long, the flowers are very showy, purple-pink, with the disc and column white, the lip ovate-elliptic. Epidendrum rafael-lucasi Hágsater has 2 to 4 successive, green yellowish flowers, the sepals minutely dotted with brown on the outside, sepals .64 to .8" [16 to 20 mm] long, lip triangular-cordiform. Epidendrum haberi Hágsater has a 2-flowered raceme, white flowers, verrucose ovary, elliptic sepals, many-veined, oblique petals, a cor iform lip, and a short column. Epidendrum cocoense Hágsater from Cocos Island has a 3-flowered raceme with lemon-yellow flowers, long floral bracts, 7-veined sepals, narrowly elliptlc-Ianceolate, 5-veined petals, and an elongate lip with a "Y"-shaped callus." Hagsater etal 2007

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Genus Epidendrum Ames 1936 as Epidendrum mirabile; Ceiba Vol 5 No 1 L O Williams 1956; AOS Bulletin Vol 32 No 2 1963 photo fide; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 9 513 - 576 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977 as E antioquense drawing ok; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 9 513 - 576 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977 as E sic farmense drawing ok/photo hmm; Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 2 Plate 179 Hagsater 1993 see recognition section; Field Guide to the Orchids of Costa Rica and Panama Dressler 1993; Icones Orchidacearum 3 Plate 359 Hagsater 1999 see recognition section; Manual de las Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003; Icones Orchidacearum 8 Plate 840 Hagsater 2006 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 9 Plate 957 Hagsater 2007 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1382 Hagsater & Santiago 2010 See recognition section;

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