''Epidendrum frutex'' is a high-altitude species of reed-stemmed ''

Epidendrum ''Epidendrum'' , abbreviated Epi in the horticultural trade, is a large neotropical genus of the orchid family. With more than 1,500 species, some authors describe it as a mega-genus. The genus name (from Greek ''επί, epi'' and ''δένδρ� ...

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

native to Colombia,

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar language, Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechuan ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

, and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

Description

''E. frutex''

Rchb.f. Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach (Dresden, 3 January 1823 – Hamburg, 6 May 1889) was a botanist and the foremost German orchidologist of the 19th century. His father Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach (author of ''Icones Florae Germanicae et Helv ...

(1855) is closely related to E. frigidum Lind. (1855), growing terrestrially in "open sphagnum uplands". The tall

sympodial Sympodial growth is a bifurcating branching pattern where one branch develops more strongly than the other, resulting in the stronger branches forming the primary shoot and the weaker branches appearing laterally. A sympodium, also referred to a ...

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 A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is ...

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 The lips are the visible body part at the mouth of many animals, including humans. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech. Human lips are a tactile sensory organ, and can be ...

adnate Adnate may refer to: * Adnation, in botany, the fusion of two or more whorls of a flower * Adnate, in mycology, a classification of lamellae (gills) * Conjoined twins Conjoined twins – sometimes popularly referred to as Siamese twins – are ...

to the

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

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.The Internet Orchid Species Photo Encyclopedia
/ref> Image:Epidendrum frutex.jpg, ''Epidendrum frutex'' — in habitat Image:Epidendrum frutex inflorescence.jpg, ''E. frutex'' — inflorescence Image:Epidendrum frutex fruits.jpg, ''E. frutex'' — infruitescence

References

frutex frutex Orchids of Colombia Orchids of Ecuador Orchids of Peru Orchids of Venezuela {{Laeliinae-stub