Epidendrum microphyllum

Epidendrum microphyllum is a species of tropical orchid in the genus Epidendrum with non-resupinate flowers.

Epidendrum microphyllum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Orchidaceae
Subfamily:	Epidendroideae
Genus:	Epidendrum
Subgenus:	Epidendrum subg. Epidendrum
Section:	Epidendrum sect. Sarcophylla
Species:	E. microphyllum
Binomial name
Epidendrum microphyllum Rich. (1792)
Synonyms
Epidendrum sarcophyllum Focke (1851) Lanium microphyllum (Lindl.) Benth. (1881) Lanium colombianum Schltr. (1920) Lanium peruvianum Schltr. (1921) Lanium microphyllum subsp. colombianum (Schltr.) Brieger (1977)

Description

E. microphyllum grows epiphytically at low altitudes in the tropical rain forests of northern Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador (including a site in Napo at 180 m^[1]), French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.^[2] The small sympodial plant bears rather widely separated (3–5 cm) short, erect stems covered with imbricating sheathes, most of which bear the thick, narrow, alternate leaves. The small (1 cm across) woolly green flowers (sometimes with purple pigment as well) are born on a woolly, apical raceme. The dorsal sepal bends backward, nearly parallel to the ovary, unlike the spreading lateral sepals. The petals are linear to narrowly elliptic, and bend backward to a lesser degree than the dorsal sepal. The lateral margins of the pointed lip partially encircle the apex of the column.

Systematics

In 1861, Reichenbach classified this orchid as the only species in the section Sarcophylla Rchb.f. of subgenus Euepidendrum Lindl. of the genus Epidendrum.^[3] According to the Vienna code, the proper names for these subdivisions of the genus Epidendrum are E. sect. Sarcophylla and E. subg. Epidendrum.^[4]