Epidendrum secundum Jacq.

  • 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 secundum Jacq.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Plants epiphytic or terrestrial, glabrous herbs. Roots long slender, from base of stem or branches, 1-2 mm diam. Stems canelike, terete, sometimes branched, covered by persistent leaf sheaths, to 1 m long. Leaves distichous, rigid, coriaceous, ellipticlanceolate, mostly acute, to 11 cm long, 2 cm wide. Inflorescences terminal, long-pedunculate, racemose, densely flowered, floral display subumbellate, peduncle and rachis to 50 cm long, secondary racemes or shoots sometimes developing from upper nodes of peduncle on older stems; floral bracts lanceolate, inconspicuous, 1-6 mm long. Flowers nonresupinate, generally magenta or rosecolored with yellow and white lip callus. Pedicellate ovary slender, 11-19 mm long. Sepals and petals spreading, entire, 6-8 mm long, 2.5-3 mm wide. Dorsal sepal elliptic, acute-acuminate; lateral sepals asymmetrically elliptic, acute-obtuse. Petals ellipticoblanceolate, acute. Lip adnate to the entire length of the column; lamina ovate, obscurely trilobed, margins irregularly dissected, 4-6 mm long, 4-6 mm wide; callus large, platelike with several marginal horns. Column erect, slender, 3-5 mm long; pollinia 4. Fruit ellipsoidal to subglobose, ca. 2 cm long.

  • Discussion

    4. Epidendrum secundum Jacquin, Enum. Syst. PL 29. 1760. Amphiglottis secunda (Jacquin) Salisbury, Trans. Hort. Soc. London 1: 294. 1812. Type. Jacquin s.n., from Martinique (original illustration not seen; reproduction: Jacquin, Select. Stirp. Amer. Hist. t. 137. 1763). Phenology & Pollination. Plants may bloom all year, but winter and spring are the best times (Winters, 1949). Dodson and Dodson (1980) noted that Epidendrum secundum is pollinated by butterflies and hummingbirds in South America, which is probably what happens here. N o pollinator reward is offered. Fruits are uncommon. Taxonomic Notes. Garay and Sweet (1974) and Liogier and Martorell (1982) listed this species as E. elongatum but this move has proved inappropriate for the same reasons mentioned under E. anceps (Brummit, 1978; Dressier & Williams, 1975, 1982; Hagsater, 1993).

  • Distribution

    General Distribution. Tropical South America, Trinidad, and West Indies.

    South America| Trinidad and Tobago South America| West Indies| Puerto Rico South America|