Epidendrum musciferum Lindley 1834 GROUP Anceps SUBGROUP Anceps

Photo by Ecuagenera and their Ecuador Orchid Website

Common Name or Meaning The Fly Carrying Epidendrum

Flower Size .4" [1 cm]

Found in Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam, Fr Guiana, Brazil, Ecuador Peru and Bolivia at elevations of 70 to 1200 meters as a small to large sized, hot to cool growing epiphyte with simple, cane-like, ancipitous, straight stems carrying 4 to 10, distichous, all along the upper 2/3's of the stem, rarely tinged purple, elliptic, obtuse to retuse apically, mucronate, coriaceous, becoming conduplicate towards the base leaves that blooms at most any time of the year on a terminal, racemose to pluriracemose, subcorymbose, dense, elongate, ancipitous, 5" [12.5 cm] long, 7 to 25 flowered inflorescence with 3 to 12, imbricate, tubular, laterally compressed, oblong acute to obtuse bracts and much shorter than the ovary, amplexicaul, triangular-ovate, acuminate floral bracts and carrying simultaneously opening, non-resupinate flowers that can produce new racemes from the same inflorescence over several years and thus appearing paniculate inflorescence.

Often cited as a synonym of Epidendrum anceps Jacq. but differs in the shorter narrower leaves, smaller, cinnamon brown to yellow flowers sometimes tinged with purple and the column greenish with the apical half often white.

"Epidendrum musciferum, belongs to the GROUP Anceps , which is recognized by the simple stems, generally elongate, compound racemose inflorescence producing new successive racemes with time, fleshy flowers, filiform to narrowly oblanceolate petals; and the SUBGROUP Anceps which has short subcorymbose racemes. The species is recognized by the small sized flowers, sepals .18 to .24' [4.5 to 6.0 mm] long, cinnamon brown to yellow somewhat tinged with red-purple, greenish, yellowish to orange, the lip can be predominantly reddish, green or yellow, and the column is mainly green, the apex occasionally white. Epidendrum anceps Jacq. is widely distributed in Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and the Antilles as well as Surinam and the French Guiana, and has larger, wider leaves, 2 to 6 x 1.2 to 2" [5 to 15 x 3 to 5 cm], the flowers are larger, sepals .14 to .356" [3.5 to 8.6 mm] long, and generally green, rarely tinted brown. Epidendrum amphistomum A.Rich. from the United States (Florida), Cuba and Hispaniola has larger flowers sepals 2.2 to 3" [5.5. to 7.5 mm] long, greenish yellow to red-brown flowers and the lip bilobed. Epidendrum galeottianum A. Rich. & Galeotti ranges from Mexico to central Nicaragua, and has large plants, 10 to 40" [25 to 100 cm] tall, larger leaves, 1.8 to 9.2" [4.5 to 23 cm] long and purple tinged, the flowers are larger, sepals .2 to .32" [5 to 8 mm] long, greenish brown, the apex of the column and the lip purple." Hagsater etal 2008

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 4 COS 1994 photo fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 2 Dodson 2001 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 5-6 Plate 577 Hagsater 2002 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 8 Plate 846 Hagsater & Sanchez 2006 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum Vol 11 Plate 1101 Hagsater & Sanchez 2008 see recognition; Icones Orchidacearum Vol 11 Plate 1147 Hagsater & Sanchez 2008 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1335 Hagsater 2010 see recognition section; Orchids of the Department of Valle De Cauca Colombia Vol 2 Kolanowska, Hagsater etal. 2014 drawing/photo fide; Orchids of the Darien Gap Kolanowska 2014 drawing fide; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 as E macrostachyum drawing/photo fide;

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