Epidendrum strobiliferum Rchb. f. 1858 GROUP Ramosum SUBGROUP Flexicaule
Photo by © Jay Pfahl
Photos by © Patricia Harding
Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website
Common Name The Pine Cone Epidendrum
Flower Size 1/4" [.6 cm]
Found in Florida, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leewards, Trinidad & Tobago, Windwards, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, French Guiana, Surinam, Guyana and Venzuela in low disturbed forests and open fields at elevations of sealevel to 900 meters as a miniature sized, caespitose, pendant to horizontal, hot to warm growing, reedstem epiphyte with clustered, simple to branched stems enveloped by tubular, green-purple sheaths and carrying numerous, distichous, spreading, fleshy, elliptic to linear-lanceolate, acute, basally clasping leaves that blooms in the spring on a terminal, 1.4" [3.5 cm] long raceme with a few, small, successive opening flowers subtended by several large bracts that the flowers just barely clear.
Best mounted on tree fern or driftwood and given moderate shade and a somewhat drier winter rest.
Epidendrum strobiliferum belongs to the GROUP Ramosum which is characterized by the monopodial, branching stems, the spike-like, distichous inflorescence, and the single callus, and the GROUP Ramosum SUBGROUP Flexicaulewhich has a straggling plant habit, where the main stem is not very evident, and the sepals have a dorsal keel which is generally prominent. The species is recognized by the small branching plants which may form large mats, with a distichous inflorescence, 3 to 5, small pale green to white-cream flowers with sepals .16 to .184" [3.5 to 4.6 mm] long, the ovary ventrally inflated, linear petals and a triangular-cordiform lip. Vegetatively it is similar to Epidendrum repens Cogn. and Epidendrum brachyrepens Hágsater, but those species belong to the Repens Subgroup which has strictly pendent plants, and small leaves, less than 1" [2.5 cm] long, are single flowered, the green flower is larger with sepals .24 to .32" [6 to 8 mm] long, the ovary is not inflated and the lip is ecallose. Epidendrum swartzii Hágsater endemic to Jamaica, has treelike plants, 3.2 to 4" [8 to 10 cm] tall, produced on a single stem which is branched above, with 7 to 9 nerved sepals, the lip triangular sagitate, acuminate, acute, with several prominent veins, column winged, the wings triangular, acute. Hagsatere etal 2010
Synonyms Epidendrum mosenii Barb. Rodr. 1881; Epidendrum rodriguesii Cogn. 1898; Epidendrum verrecundum Schltr. 1922; Isochilus ramosus H. Focke 1851; Spathiger strobiliferus (Rchb. f.) Small 1933
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Studies in the Family Orchidaceae Vol 1 Ames 1905 drawing fide; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909; Flora of Jamaica Fawcett & Rendle 1910; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 6: 72 Schlechter 1919 as E strobiliforme; Studies in the Family Orchidaceae Ames 1922; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 17: 42. Panama Schlechter 1922 as E verecundum; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 35: 71 Schlechter 1925 as Epidendrum mosenii; The Genus Epideendrum Ames 1936; Catalogo Descriptivo de las Orquideas Cubanas Acuna 1938 as Spathiger strobiliferum; Flore Descriptive des Antilles Francaises H. Stehle 1939; The Orchids of Panama L.O. Williams & P Allen 1946 drawing good; Ceiba Vol 5 No 1 L O Williams 1956; Orchids of Peru Vol 2 Fieldiana Schweinfurth 1959 drawing fide; Native Orchids of Trinidad Schultes 1960; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 4 Dunsterville & Garay 1966 drawing ok; Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 3 1970 drawing ok; The Native Orchids of Florida Luer 1972 Photos/drawing fide; Flora of the Lesser Antilles Garay & Sweet 1974 drawing ok; AOS Bulletin Vol 44 #8 1975; Orchidaceae Brasilense Band 1 Pabst & Dungs 1975 drawing fide; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 9 513 - 576 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977; Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing ok; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 733 Dodson 1982 see observations; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 740 Dodson 1982 drawing ok; Selbyana Vol 10 Orchids of Central America Hamer 1988 drawing fide; Inventaire Taxominique des Plantes de la Guyane Francaise Vol II Les Orchidaceaes Cremers and Hoff 1992; Orchids of the High Mountain Atlantic Rainforest in SE Brazil Warren & Miller 1994; Manual Of Orchids Stewart 1995; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 1 Dunsterville and Garay 1979 drawing ok; Orchids of Venezuela an Illustrated Field Guide Vol 1 Romero & Carnevali 2000 drawing ok; Harvard Pap. Bot. 5 #2: Carnevali etal. 2001; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003; Manual de las Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003; Orchids of Bolivia Vol 2 Laelinae Vasquez and Ibisch 2004 drawing/photo fide; ; Orchids of Mexico Hagsater, Soto, Salazar, Jimenez, Lopez and Dressler 2005; Icones Orchidacearum 9 Plate 994 Hagsater 2007 see recognition section; The Organ Mountain Range Its History and its Orchids Miller, Warren, Miller & Seehawer 2008 as E rodrigueesii drawing/Photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 11 Plate 1169 Hagsater 2008 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum Vol 11 Plate 1169 Hagsater & Sanchez 2008 see Recognition; Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1390 Hagsater & Santiago 2010drawing fide; Mille et Une Mini Orchideees Roguenant 2009 photo hmm; Orquideas de Roirama Luz & Franco 2012 photo fide; Orchids of French Guiana Szlachetko, Veyret, etal 2012 drawing/photo fide; Orchidees Du Bresil As Orchideas da Serra Do Castello Vol 3 Chiron & Bolsanello 2013 as E rodiguezii drawing/photo fide; Algunas Orquideas de Mexico Tomo 1 Suarez 2013 photo fide; Orchid Flora of the Greater Antilles Ackerman 2014; Icones Orchidacearum 15 [1] Plate 1515 Hagsater & Sanchez 2015 see recognition section; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 photo/drawing good; Icones Orchidacearum 16[1} Plate 1655 Hagsater & Sanchez 2018 See recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 16[1} Plate 1660 Hagsater & Sanchez 2018 See recognition section; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018
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