Epidendrum carpophorum Barb.Rodr.
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Authority
Ackerman, James D. 1995. An orchid flora of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 73: 1-203.
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Family
Orchidaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Plants glabrous, caespitose, erect to semipendent epiphytes or lithophytes. Roots numerous, produced from rhizome, 1.5-3 mm diam. Stems canelike, ancipitous, covered by persistent leaf sheaths, 1.6-15 dm long. Leaves 2-4, blades with several prominent arcuate-parallel veins, coriaceous, broadly elliptic to suborbicular, rounded, uppermost ones the largest, to 15 cm long, 7 cm wide. Inflorescences terminal, sessile, single-flowered. Flowers large, resupinate. Pedicellate ovary slender, 13-15 cm long. Perianth spreading, entire, yellow-green to yellow-brown. Dorsal sepal linear-lanceolate to linear-elliptic, acuminate, 4-7.5 cm long, 7-9 mm wide; lateral sepals asymmetrically linear-lanceolate, acuminate, 4-7.5 cm long, 10-12 mm wide. Petals linear-elliptic, 4-7.5 cm long, ca. 7 mm wide. Lip white, adnate to the entire length of the column; lamina trilobed; basal callus bilobed, flanking the entrance to the floral tube; lateral lobes entire, rounded at base, obliquely triangular; middle lobe linear-filiform, 4-5 cm long. Column clavate, ca. 2 cm long; pollinia 4. Fruit pedicel 6.7-8.7 cm long; capsule ellipsoidal, 3.5-5.8 cm long; beak 2.5-4 cm long.
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Discussion
8. Epidendrum carpophorum Barbosa Rodrigues, Gen. Sp. Orchid. Nov. 2: 148, t. 685. 1882. Type. Barbosa Rodrigues illustration of a plant from Serra do Mar, Brazil (original illustration at SP not seen, photograph of copy at K seen). Fig. 33. Epidendrum nocturnum var. latifolium Lindley, Edward's Bot. Reg. 23: t. 1961. 1837. Epidendrum latifolium (Lindley) Garay & Sweet, J. Arnold Arbor. 3: 392. 1972. Type. Paxton s.n., from the West Indies, flowered in cultivation (K-L). Phenology & Pollination. Plants flower in the fall and perhaps at other times of the year. The fact that nearly all plants produce fruits suggests that they may be autogamous. Taxonomic Notes. Epidendrum carpophorum was thought to be an ecological variant of E. nocturnum (as var. latifolium) because the two taxa have very similar flower shape. But Garay and Sweet (1969, 1974) noted that "the strongly ancipitous stem, the large elliptic leaves, the sessile, one-flowered inflorescence, and the large flowers show no intergradation with E. nocturnum." In regions of Puerto Rico where the two grow together, they maintain their differences.
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Distribution
General Distribution. Brazil, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guyana, Nicaragua, Surinam, Trinidad, Venezuela, and West Indies.
Brazil South America| El Salvador Central America| French Guiana South America| Guyana South America| Nicaragua Central America| Suriname South America| Trinidad and Tobago South America| Venezuela South America| West Indies|