Epidendrum radioferens [Ames,F.T.Hubb.& C.Schweinf.]Hagsater 1977 GROUP Arbusculum
Photo by © Patricia Harding
Photos by © Eric Hunt
Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website
EARLY 
Common Name The Rayed Lip Epidendrum
Flower Size 1.4" [3.5 cm]
Found in Chiapas state of Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras in seasonally dry oak forests to evergreen cloud forests at elevations of 1350 to 2300 meters as a large to giant sized, cool to cold growing, reedstem epiphyte or lithophyte with terete, ascending, 8 noded, reed-like stems that arise from a node at the middle of the previous stem with adventitious roots and carrying 2 to 6, clustered at the apex, elliptic, obtuse, subcoriaceous, dark green suffused with purple leaves articulate to the finely striated, scarious-fibrous sheaths that blooms in the winter through early summer on a terminal, arching to hanging, 2.8 to 4" [7 to 10 cm] long, flowers only once, umbelliform, successively 5 to 30 flowered inflorescence and carrying slightly fragrant flowers.
"This species within the GROUP Arbuscula has the typical growth habit of E arbusculum with an erect sympodium, resulting from the orthotropic modules where the renewal bud is produced from the middle of the previous shoot, few leaves clustered towards the apex of the shoots, arching, apical inflorescence with membranaceous, colorful flowers and bicallose lip. E radioferens is easily distinguished by the greenish-brown to purplish-brown tepals and the yellowish lip adorned with three protruding central keels and others radiating at the sides. This highland species has disjunct populations in the Sierra Madre of Chiapas, the Central Plateau of Chiapas, and in the inland mountains of the Sierra Madre del Sur in Oaxaca; the last area being isolated by the lowlands of the Tehuantepec Isthmus. Some morphological variation were described by Hágsater (1977) who mentioned larger flowers and more pronounced keels on the lip of the plants from Oaxaca and west of Teopisca, Chiapas. Flower color, shape of the segments and marks on the lip are also variable." Hagsater etal 2008
Synonyms *Epidendrum arbuscula var. radioferens Ames, F.T. Hubb. & C. Schweinf. 1935
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Genus Epidendrum Ames 1936 as Epidendrum arbusculum var radioferens; Ceiba Vol 5 No 1 L O Williams 1956 as E arbusculum var radioferens; Guatemala Y Sus Orquideas Behar & Tinschert 1998 photo fide; Orchids of Mexico Hagsater, Soto, Salazar, Jimenez, Lopez and Dressler 2005; Icones Orchidacearum 10 plate 1023 Hagsater & Soto 2008 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum Vol 11 Plate 1129 Hagsater & Sanchez 2008 see Recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum Vol 11 Plate 1186 Hagsater & Sanchez 2008 see Recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum Part 13 Plate 1374 Hagsater 2010 see recognition section; Guia de Orquideas de Chiapas Carlos Rommel Beutelspacher Baigts 2013 photo fide; Algunas Orquideas de Mexico Tomo 1 Suarez 2013 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 14 Plate 1426 Hagsater & Santiago 2013 See recognition section; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018
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