Epidendrum polystachyum

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Epidendrum polystachyum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Genus: Epidendrum
Subgenus: Epidendrum subg. Aulizeum
Species:
E. polystachyum
Binomial name
Epidendrum polystachyum
Kunth in F.W.H.von Humboldt, A.J.A.Bonpland & C.S.Kunth, 1816

Epidendrum polystachyum HBK (1816) is an epiphytic orchid, which grows wild in seasonally dry forests on the western slopes of the Andes in Ecuador and Peru (including Piura[1]) at altitudes near 2 km.[2]

Description[edit]

Epidendrum polystachyum has a sympodial habit, producing fusiform pseudobulbs, each with several oblong obtuse conduplicate leaves. The terminal inflorescence is a many-branched panicle with few flowers on each branch (Reichenbach 1861 says "scapo polystachyo"). The sepals, petals, and lip are peach colored: the dorsal sepal oblong to lanceolate, acuminate and reflexed; the lateral sepals oblique and reflexed; the petals lanceolate-spatulate. The trilobate lip is adnate to the column to its apex: the lateral lobes irregularly obovate with erose to crenulate margins; the medial lobe smaller, deeply emarginate, divided in two at the apex, with a raised oblong yellow-green callus.

Homonym[edit]

Epidendrum polystachyum Pav. ex Lindl. (1831) is a synonym for Epidendrum polyanthum Lindl. (1831).

References[edit]

  1. ^ C. Dodson and D. Bennett, "EPIDENDRUM POLYSTACHYUM HBK" Plate 0070 in Icones Plantarum Tropicarum Series II: Orchids of Peru Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, 1989
  2. ^ H. G. Reichenbach. nr. 124 "Orchides" in C. Müller, Ed. Walpers. Annales Botanices Systematicae 6(1861)350. Berlin