Epidendrum myrianthum Lindl. 1853 GROUP Oerstedella SUBGROUP Verrucosum
Photo by © Lourens Grobler
Photo by © Eric Hunt plant grown by Dan Newman of Hanging Gardens.
Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website
Common Name The Many Flowered Epidendrum
Flower Size 3/4" [1.8 cm]
Found in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras as a large sized, cool to cold growing terrestrial on grassy slopes and rocky banks in forests and thickets or epiphyte at elevations of 1200 to 2370 meters with clustered, cane-like, terete, thin, erect stems enveloped by tubular sheaths and carrying 10 to 28, distichous, articulate, erect spreading, fleshy, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, basally clasping leaves and blooms in the summer on a terminal, erect, branched, 18" [45 cm] long, many flowered inflorescence with fragrant flowers.
"Epidendrum myrianthum belonj;s to the GROUP Oerstedella SUBGROUP Verrucosum which is characterized by the sympodial habit, mostly verrucose stems, and the rostellum which is perpendicular to the axis of the column instead of parallel forming a wide, open sinus and without a viscidium with small to medium sized, membranaceous fIowers with sepals and petals immaculate, a bilobed clinandrium-hood slightly surpassing the body of the column, obovoid, subequal pollinia with long granulose caudicles. The species is recognized 'by fhe relatively tall plants, with a large paniculate, altractive, many-flowered inflorescence, simultaneous, pink-purple flowers, the lip 3-lobed with the latereral lobes obliquely truncate. It closely resembles E. verrucosum Sw. which also has tall plantswith somewhat longer, wider leaves, white flowers, and the bicallose callus appears tridentate due to the short keel in the middle of the calli . Epidendrum macdougallii Hágsater also has pink-purple flowers, but the plants are short, with narrow, grass-like leaves, the few-flowered inflorescence on a relatively long peduncle with 2 to 5 tubular bracts, the successive flowers somewhat smaller with sepals .2 to .28" [5 to 7 mm] long, with acute lateral lobes." Hagsater etal 2006
Synonyms Epidendrum myriantchum Hkr. ex Gajon Sanches Mejores 1930; *Epidendrum myrianthum Lindl. 1853; Epidendrum myrianthum var. album Rchb.f. ex B.S.Williams 1894; Epidendrum verrucosum var. myrianthum (Lindl.) Ames & Correll 1942; Oerstedella myriantha (Lindl.) Hágsater 1981
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 as Epidendrum myrianthum; Atlas des Orchidees Cultivees Constantin 1920 drawing fide; The Genus Epidendrum Ames 1936; AOS Bulletin Vol 27 No 9 1958 drawing ok; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 as Epidendrum verrucosum var myrianthum; Las Orquedias De El Salvador Vol 1 Hamer 1974 drawing/photo fide; Orquídea (Mexico City). 8(1): 3 1981 as Oerstedella myriatha drawing fide; Las Orquedias de El Salvador Vol 3 Hamer 1981 as Oerstedella myriantha drawing fide; Orchids of Mexico Hagsater, Soto, Salazar, Jimenez, Lopez and Dressler 2005 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 8 Plate 815 Hagsater and Sanchez 2006 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum Vol 8 Plate 852 Hagsater & Sanchez 2006 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 8 Plate 856 Hagsater 2006 as drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 8 Plate 897 Hagsater 2006 see recognition section Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1301 Hagsater 2010 see recognition section; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018
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