Epidendrum muscicola Schltr. 1923 GROUP Epidanthus

Photo by © Daniel Jimenez

Drawing

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

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Common Name or Meaning The Moss-Loving Epidendrum

Flower Size 1/4" [7.5 mm]

Found in Costa Rica and Panama in humid montane forests at elevations of 700 to 2000 meters as a miniature to small sized, warm to cool growing epiphyte or terrestrial with simple, reed-like, terete, very thin, erect, straight stems carrying 6 to 14, all along the stem, alternate, articulate, mostly erect spreading, acicular, subacute, semiterete, subcoriaceous, conduplicate into the tubular, minutely striate, narrowly triangular, acute sheaths, margin entire leaves that blooms at most any time of the year on a terminal, occuring only once, racemose, distichous, secund, lax, erect, laterally compressed, straight, fractiflex, 3 to 11, successively flowered inflorescence with a bract in the middle and shorter than the ovary floral bracts.

"Epidendrum muscicolum belongs to the GROUP Epidanthus, which is characterized by short small, somewhat scandent plants with very thin stems, very narrow, more or less fleshy leaves, with a small, narrowly triangular, acute ligule opposite the blade, an apical, distichous, usually secund inflorescence, and 2 to 4 pollinia. The species is recognized by the thin stems, acicular leaves, rarely pink with lavender, frequently white or cream colored flowers, the petals porrect, with a very evident, basal fleshy-thickened orbicular process the lip 3-lobed, one keel in front of the callus, and the midlobe linear-subulate. It is similar to Epidendrum talamancanum (Atwood) Mora-Retana & J.García with plants as tall to 12" [30 cm], but linear leaves, sepals .168 to 2.8" [4.2 to 7 mm] long, the lip 3-lobed with 3 keels in front of the callus. The specimens cited from Panama as E. muscicolum generally correspond to Epidendrum infundibulum Hágsater & E.Santiago which has shorter plants up to 6" [15 cm] tall with shorter leaves .4 to .64" [1 to 1.7 cm] long , infundibuliform floral bracts, ovate-rhombic petals partly spreading, not fleshy-thickened at the base and the bidentate apex of the callus upturned in natural position." Hagsater etal 2007

Synonyms Epidanthus muscicola (Schltr.) L.O.Williams 1940; Epidendrum linifolium Ames 1924

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 214. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923 as E muscicolum; The Genus Epidendrum Ames 1936; Die Orchideen tafel 9 511-579 Rudolph Schlechter 1971 as Epidanthus musicola; Icones Plantarum Tropicarum Plate 1314 Atwood 1989 as Epidanthus musicola drawing fide; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 42 - 43 pg 2626 - 2762 Brieger 2001 as Epidanthus musicola photo fide; Manual de las Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003; Icones Orchidacearum 9 Plate 943 Hagsater 2007 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 9 Plate 962 Hagsater & Sanchez 2007 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 9 Plate 995 Hagsater 2007 see recognition section; Orchids of Costa Rica Vol 3 Morales 2009 photo fide;

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