Epidendrum tridens Poepp. & Endl. 1837-8 GROUP Nocturnum
Photo by Collantes/ Drawing by © Jimenez and The AMO Herbaria Website
Photos by © Greg Allikas
Photos by © Walter Schug and His MesoAmerican Orchid Page
Common Name The Three Toothed Epidendrum
Flower Size 2 3/4" to 3.6" [7 to 9 cm]
Found in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Windward Islands, Trinidad & Tobago, French Guinea, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru at elevations of 1500 to 2400 meters as a medium sized, cool to cold growing epiphyte with simple, cane-like, laterally compressed above, straight, green sometimes tinged with purple stems carrying 4 to 8, all along the apical 3/4's of the stem, erect, coriaceous, dark green sometimes tinged with purple, narrowly elliptic, progressively larger above, unequally bilobed, minutely mucronate, venation and dorsal keel evident leaves that blooms at any time of the year on a terminal, racemose becoming pluri-racemose, over several years from the same stem, peduncle .12 to .16" [3 to 4 mm] long, rachis .2 to .4" [.5 to 1 cm] long, successively single, many flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary, triangular, acuminate, amplexicaul floral bracts and carrying resupinate, nocturnally fragrant flowers with the tepals green to yellow occaisionally tinged with purple, and the lip and column are white.
"Epidendrum tridens belongs to the GROUP Nocturnum which is characterized by the sympodial, caespitose plants, cane-like, non-fusiform stems, successive flowers on a short, racemose or pluri-racemose inflorescence, without spathaceous bracts, and large, star-shaped flowers, with similar sepals and petals; the flowers are mostly indistinguishable in shape. The species is recognized by the dark green plants, the underside of the leaves and sheaths tinged with purple, laterally compressed stems, 4 to 8 erect leaves, generally longer towards the apex of the stem, length/width 3:1 to 5:1; 3.4 to 6" x .8 to 2" [8.5 to 15 x 2 to 5 cm], distributed along the apical 3/4's of the stem, green often tinged with purple; ovary 2.4 to 4.8" [60 to 120] mm long, equal or occasionally longer than the apical leaf, sepals 1.68 to 2.92" [42 to 73 mm] long, lateral lobes of the lip semi-ovate, rounded to acute, acuminate, .56 to 1. 04" [14 to 26 mm] long; mid-lobe .8 to 1.48" [20 to 37 mm] long, column .84 to 1" [21 to 25 mm] long; body of the capsule centered. Epidendrum nocturnum Jacq. is widely distributed from Florida to Bolivia, has green plants, terete stems, smaller leaves distributed along the apical 2/3 of the stems, a short ovary, 2 to 2.8" [50 to 70 mm] long, and the body of the capsule occupying nearly its whole length. Epidendrum tumuc-humaciense (Veyret) Carnevali & G.Romero is found along the Guiana Shield, and lower altitude of the Amazon basin in Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana and the northern border of Brazil, plants are frequently wine-red, or yellow-green, it has numerous, shorter, narrower, erect leaves, 1.2 to 3.68" to .48 to 1.12" [3 to 9.2 x 1.2 to 2.8 cm], distributed throughout the stems, the basal ones generally longer; sepals and petals 1.92 to 3.24" [48 to 81 mm]long; body of the capsule occupying the apical half of the fruit. Epidendrum carpophorum Barb.Rodr. is found along the Atlantic slope of Venezuela, Guyana and SE Brazil, has few leaves distributed along the apical half of the stems, olive-green, the underside tinged purple, leaves wider 1 to 2.4" [2.5 to 6.0 mm] wide, column short, .52 to .8" [13 to 20 mm] long, and the body of the capsule is somewhat displaced towards the apex of the fruit. Epidendrum ramiro-medinae Hágsater & L.Sánchez is presently known only from southern Colombia along the upper Amazon slope of the Andes, has dark olive-green plants, sheaths and underside of leaves tinged purple, narrow leaves .6 to 1.12" [1.5 to 2.8 cm] wide, ovary short, 3 to 3.32" [75 to 78 mm] long, and column short .52" [13 mm] long. Epidendrum angustilobum Fawc. & Rendle (syn. Epidendrum latifolium (Lindl.) Garay & Sweet is found along the Atlantic lowlands of Costa Rica and Panama, Colombia, Venezuela and the Guianas, has few, dark green, wide leaves .8 to 2.8" [2 to 7 cm] wide, a long ovary, 4.8 to 8" [120 to 200 mm] long, the mid-lobe of the lip is long, 1.44 to 1.8" [36 to 45 mm] long, and the body of the capsule is located at the middle of the fruit. Epidendrum macroophorum Hágsater & Dodson is found along the Pacific slope of Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and northern Peru, has dark green plants, few, long, wide leaves 3.8 to 8" x .92 to 2.8" [9.5 to 20.0 x 2.3 to 7.0 cm], a very long ovary, 8.8 to 12" [22-30 cm] long, sepals and petals long 2.2 to 3.33" [55 to 83 mm] long, lateral lobes of the lip .8 to 1.2" [20 to 30 mm] long, mid-lobe 1.4 to 2.08" [35 to 52 mm] long, column .88 to 1.36" [22 to 34 mm] long, and the body of the capsule displaced towards the apex of the fruit." Hagsater etal 2015
Synonyms Epidendrum carpophorum Barb.Rodr. 1882; *Epidendrum nocturnum var. tridens (Poepp. & Endl.) Cogn. 1898; Epidendrum tridens var. briegeri I.Bock 1982; Epidendrum tunguraguae Schltr. 1921
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 8: 87 Schlechter 1921 as E tunguraguae; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. Figuren-Atlas 57: 366 Schlechter 1929 as E tunguraguaedrawing fide; Flora of the Lesser Antilles Garay & Sweet 1974 as Epidendrum latifolium drawing fide; Orchidaceae Brasilense Band 1 Pabst & Dungs 1975 as E latifolium drawing fide; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 9 513 - 576 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977 photo hmm; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 6 Dunsterville & Garay 1976 as E latifolium drawing ok; AOS Bulletin Vol 46 #10 1977 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 47 No 7 1978 as E latifolium drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 as E latifolium drawing ok; Orchids of Venezuela An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 as E nocturnum drawing ok; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 097 Dodson 1980 as E tunguraguae drawing ok; Las Orquedias de El Salvador Vol 3 Hamer 1981 as E latifolium drawing/photo good; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 709 Hamer 1982 as E carpophorum drawing = E tridens; Selbyana Vol 10 Orchids of Central America Hamer 1988 as E carpophorum drawing = E tridens; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Series II Orchids of Bolivia plate 0326 Dodson & Vasquez 1989 as E carpophorum drawing not = E tridens; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1981 photo hmm; Field Guide to the Orchids of Costa Rica and Panama Dressler 1993 as E carpophorum = E tridens; An Orchid Flora Of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Ackerman 1995 drawing fide; An Orchid Flora Of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Ackerman 1995 as E carpophorum drawing = E tridens; Manual Of Orchids Stewart 1995 as E latifolium; Icones Orchidacearum 3 Plate 326 Hagsater 1999 see recognition section as E tridens var briegeri;Icones Orchidacearum 3 Plate 350 Hagsater & Sanchez 1999 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 3 Plate 336 Hagsater & Sanchez 1999 as Epidendrum tunguraguae Schltr. 1921 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 3 Plate 376 Hagsater 1999 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 3 Plate 379 Hagsater 1999 see recognition section; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 1 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 as E carpophorum drawing ok; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003 as E tumac-humaciense; Manual de las Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003 as E latifolium; Vanishing Beauty; Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 1 Pupulin 2005; Orquideas de la Serrania del Baudo Cho Colombia Misas 2005 as E latifolium drawing/photo fide; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1313 Hagsater 2010 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1326 Hagsater 2010 see recognition section; Orchids of French Guiana Szlachetko, Veyret, etal 2012 drawing/photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 15 [1] Plate 1520 Hagsater & Sanchez 2015 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 15 [1] Plate 1523 Hagsater & Sanchez 2015 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 15[1] Plate 1565 Hagsater & Sanchez 2015 Icones Orchidacearum 15 [1] Plate 1561 Hagsater & Sanchez 2015 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 15 [2] Plate 1576 Hagsater & Sanchez 2016 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 15 [2] Plate 1591 Hagsater & Sanchez 2016 see recognition section; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 drawing/photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 16(1): t. 1613 Hagsater etal 2018 see recognition section
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