Epidendrum frutex
| Epidendrum frutex | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Orchidaceae |
| Subfamily: | Epidendroideae |
| Genus: | Epidendrum |
| Subgenus: | Epidendrum subg. Epidendrum |
| Section: | Epidendrum sect. Planifolia |
| Subsection: | Epidendrum subsect. Paniculata |
| Species: | E. frutex
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| Binomial name | |
| Epidendrum frutex Rchb.f. (1855)
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Epidendrum frutex is a high-altitude species of reed-stemmed Epidendrum orchid native to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.[1]
Description
[edit]E. frutex Rchb.f. (1855) is closely related to E. frigidum Lind. (1855),[2] growing terrestrially in "open sphagnum uplands".[3] The tall sympodial plants grow from 3/4 to 5 m tall. As is typical of the subgenus E. subg. Epidendrum, the stems are covered from the base with distichous, tubular, leaf-bearing sheaths. The narrow leathery leaves of E. frutex can grow more than 2 dm long. The terminal inflorescence is a distichous (not secund) compound panicle bearing numerous small, fleshy yellow to green to brown flowers. The triangular sepals are no longer than 6 mm. The linear petals are slightly shorter than the sepals. The lip is adnate to the column to its apex, heart-shaped where it diverges from the column, broader than it is long, and not divided into lobes. A linear keel runs down the center of the lip.
This large Epidendrum is notable for producing seed capsules that are more than ten times the size of the flowers.[4]
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Epidendrum frutex — in habitat -
E. frutex — inflorescence -
E. frutex — infruitescence
References
[edit]- ^ "World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew".
- ^ H. G. Reichenbach, "ORCHIDES", nr. 358 in C. Müller, Ed. Walpers Annales Botanices Systematicae 6(1861)411-412. Berlin.
- ^ Schweinfurth. "Orchids of Peru" Fieldiana: Botany 30(1959)445. Field Museum, Chicago, IL
- ^ The Internet Orchid Species Photo Encyclopedia
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