Genus: Epidendrum
Epidendrum is a Neotropical genus with more than 1,000 species that range from North Carolina to Argentina. Species include epiphytes, lithophytes and terrestrial forms and grow in a wide range of habitats and altitudes. Species are also quite variable in number, size, and color of flowers but there are characteristics that are distinctive to the genus including: a rostellum that is slit and produces an adhesive liquid, a lip that is adnate to the column and forms a nectar tube, a pollinarium with four (rarely two) pollinia. Stems can be erect, repent or hanging and simple or branching. Leaves are alternate and the blades are ovate to elliptic or lanceolate and vary from fleshy to leathery.
