Monographs Details

Monographs Details:

Authority:

Ackerman, James D. 1995. An orchid flora of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 73: 1-203.

Family:

Orchidaceae

Scientific Name:

Epidendrum ciliare L.

Description:

Species Description - Plants epiphytic or lithophytic, glabrous herbs. Roots white, numerous from the short, stout rhizome and base of stem, fleshy, 2-3 mm diam. Stems pseudobulbous, slender, fusiform, slightly compressed, composed of several internodes, to 25 cm long. Leaves 1-3, stiff, coriaceous, to 17 cm long, 4 cm wide. Inflorescences terminal, erect or arching, peduncles to 17 cm long, covered by distichous, conduplicate bracts, racemes to 15 cm long, (1-) 3-10-flowered; floral bracts lanceolate, canaliculate, spreading or clasping the ovary, 2-4.5 cm long. Flowers large, resupinate. Floral bracts lanceolate, canaliculate, spreading or clasping ovary, 2-4.5 cm long. Pedicellate ovary slender, ca. 5 cm long. Sepals and petals similar, green to yellowish brown, revolute, linear, spreading, 4-5 cm long, 3-6 mm wide. Lip white, attached to the full length of the column; lamina trilobed, to 3 cm long; outer margin of the lateral lobes deeply and irregularly dissected; middle lobe entire, linear, 2.2-3 cm long; basal callus small, bilobed, sometimes yellow, flanking the entrance to the nectar tube. Column white, apically dilated, ca. 1.5 cm long; pollinia 4, yellow. Fruit green, ellipsoidal, 2.5-3 cm long, beak prominent, ca. 2 cm long. Chromosomes: n = 20, 2n = 40, 80, 160.

Discussion:

6. Epidendrum ciliare Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 2: 1246. 1759. Auliza ciliaris (Linnaeus) Salisbury, Trans. Hort. Soc. London 1: 294. 1812. Type. Plumier s.n., from Martinique (original illustration at P, not seen; reproduction: Plumier, PL Amer. t. 179, f. 2. 1758). Fig. 31. Epidendrum cuspidatum Loddiges, Bot. Cab. 1: t. 10, 1817. Epidendrum ciliare var. cuspidatum (Loddiges) Lindley, Fol. Orchid. Epidendrum 30. 1853. Type. Loddiges s.n., from Dominica (no specimen made; the illustration in Bot. Cab. serves as the type). Phenology & Pollination. Different populations in our region flower at different times (see below). Flowering may occur any time between the fall and spring, but occasionally individual plants may flower in the summer. The flowers are nocturnally fragrant and nectarless. The carpenter bee, Xylocopa brasilianorum (Anthophoridae), has been reported as a visitor (Jackson & Woodbury, 1976), but it is an unlikely pollinator given the morphology and behavior of the flowers. On Culebra, Epidendrum ciliare is pollinated by the hawk moth Pseudosphinx tetrio (Sphingidae).Only a small fraction of the nectarless flowers are visited. Fruit production may be limited by pollinator visits and resource constraints, but a large number of Miits are destroyed by rats (Ackerman & Montalvo, 1990). Taxonomic Notes. The populations of E. ciliare in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands may represent a conglomerate of sibling species. The plants of the Virgin Islands, Culebra, Vieques, and the north coastal areas and central mountains of Puerto Rico bloom during the late fall and early winter. Plants of the mogotes and western mountains bloom in the spring. The eastern, montane, and western populations are morphologically similar, whereas the plants of the northern limestone regions have a darker leaf color and a lanky appearance. These differences are maintained in the greenhouse for at least 10 years. Furthermore, floral fragrances are generally variable, even within an inflorescence, but population differences are the most extreme (Moya & Ackerman, 1993). A Puerto Rican E. ciliare from the northeastern shores had n = 20 chromosomes (unpublished count).

Distribution and Ecology:

Habitat. Epiphytic on tree trunks or lithophytic on boulders in dry to wet forests from low to high elevations (sea level to 850 m); locally common and abundant.