''Epidendrum geniculatum'' is a deciduous,

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 ...

caespitose This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

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 the

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian states of

Espírito Santo Espírito Santo (, , ; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist att ...

and

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

, at elevations from 300 – 800 m.

Synonymy and confusion

A description of ''Epidendrum geniculatum'' was published in 1882 by João Barbosa Rodrigues. Eight years later, in 1890,

Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For twenty years he served as director of ...

published a description of an orchid, under the name of ''Epidendrum geniculatum'' for which

William Roxburgh William Roxburgh FRSE FRCPE FLS (3/29 June 1751 – 18 February 1815) was a Scottish surgeon and botanist who worked extensively in India, describing species and working on economic botany. He is known as the founding father of Indian botany. ...

had published a description 70 years earlier, with the name ''

Aerides multiflora ''Aerides multiflora'', the multi-flowered aerides, is a species of orchid, native to Southeast Asia, the Coromandel Coast, and Bangladesh. Synonymy and confusion In 1820, William Roxburgh published a description of ''Aerides multiflora''. ...

''. Thus, ''Epidendrum geniculatum'' Hook.f. is a synonym for ''Aerides multiflora''

Roxb. William Roxburgh FRSE FRCPE FLS (3/29 June 1751 – 18 February 1815) was a Scottish surgeon and botanist who worked extensively in India, describing species and working on economic botany. He is known as the founding father of Indian botany. ...

, and a very different

taxon In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...

from ''Epidendrum geniculatum'' Barb.Rodr., the subject of this article.

Description

The stems of ''E. geniculatum'' are flattened and covered by the bases of the rather thin leaves, which drop before the seed capsule matures. The flowers, born in Winter and early Spring (July–September) on a short

peduncle Peduncle may refer to: *Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed *Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body **Peduncle (art ...

erupting from a spathe, range from light yellow to lavender. The sepals are approximately 10 mm long by 3 mm wide, and are both wider and longer than the elliptical lateral petals. The nearly flat single lobe of 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 ...

is approximately 6 mm long by 7 mm wide and bears a keel in front of 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 which the lip is

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 ...

. This species is considered to be similar to '' E. caparaoense'' and '' E. hololeucum''.Forster, W., and Souza, V. C. "''Epidendrum caparaoense'' (Orchidaceae), a new species from Minas Gerais, Brazil" ''Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society'' 155 p. 157-159 © 2007 The Linnean Society of London

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20090712032717/http://www.orchidstudium.com/Epidendrum/geniculatum/ geniculatum Endemic orchids of Brazil Orchids of Espírito Santo Orchids of Rio de Janeiro (state) {{Laeliinae-stub