Epidendrum catillus Rchb.f. & Warsz. (1854) is an epiphytic

Epiphyte

An epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant non-parasitically or sometimes upon some other object , derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and sometimes from debris accumulating around it, and is found in the temperate zone and in the...

 orchid

Orchidaceae

The Orchidaceae, commonly referred to as the orchid family, is a morphologically diverse and widespread family of monocots in the order Asparagales. Along with the Asteraceae, it is one of the two largest families of flowering plants, with between 21,950 and 26,049 currently accepted species,...

 native to Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

 (where the type was collected), Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

, and Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 at altitudes ranging from 0.8 km to 1.6 km.

Description

E. catillus has been placed in E. subg.Amphiglottium

Epidendrum subg. Amphiglottium

Epidendrum subg. Amphiglottium Lindl. 1841 is a subgenus of reed-stemmed Epidendrums, distinguished by an apical inflorescence with the peduncle covered from its base with close imbricating sheaths and by a lip that is adnate to the column to its apex.Reichenbach published three sections in this...

 Lindl. (1841) by Reichenbach. Like other members of this subgenus, E. catillus has thin stems which show no tendency to produce pseudobulb

Pseudobulb

The pseudobulb is a storage organ derived from the part of a stem between two leaf nodes.It applies to the orchid family , specifically certain groups of epiphytic orchids, and may be single or composed of several internodes with evergreen or deciduous leaves along its length.In some species, it is...

s, covered with tight, tubular sheathes which bear distichous leaves on the upper part of the stem, a long apical peduncle

Peduncle (botany)

In botany, a peduncle is a stem supporting an inflorescence, or after fecundation, an infructescence.The peduncle is a stem, usually green and without leaves, though sometimes colored or supporting small leaves...

 covered from its base with tight tubular sheathes, and a lip

Labellum

Labellum is the Latin diminutive of labium, meaning lip. These are anatomical terms used descriptively in biology, for example in Entomology and botany.-Botany:...

 which is adnate

Adnation

Adnation in plants is the "union of unlike parts; organically united or fused with another dissimilar part, e.g. an ovary to a calyx tube, or stamens to petals". This is in contrast to connation, the fusion of similar organs....

 to the column

Column (botany)

The column, or technically the gynostemium, is a reproductive structure that can be found in several plant families: Aristolochiaceae, Orchidaceae, and Stylidiaceae....

 to its apex. The plant height is variable, from 0.2 m to 1 m. The leathery leaves grow as long as 7.5 cm, and as wide as 3.5 cm. The inflorescence is usually a raceme

Raceme

A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...

, although paniculate

Panicle

A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....

 inflorescences have been observed; the flowers are born close together near the end of the raceme. The flowers are red to violet and white, and open fully. The oblong sepals are grow to 1.5 cm long, the petals are somewhat smaller. As is typical of E. sect. Schistochila

Epidendrum sect. Schistochila

Epidendrum sect. Schistochila Rchb.f. is a section of the subgenus E. subg. Amphiglottium Lindl. of the Genus Epidendrum of the Orchidaceae...

, the lip has lateral lobes and a medial lobe, which divides in two in this species. As is typical of E. subsect. Tuberculata

Epidendrum subsect. Tuberculata

Epidendrum subsect. Tuberculata is a subsection of the section Schistochila of the subgenus Amphiglottium Lindl. of the genus Epidendrum of the Orchidaceae. This subsection differs from the subsection Integra in that the margins of the trilobate lip are dentate or lacerate...

, the lip margins are crenulate to lacerate, and the lip bears an irregularly-shaped tubercule; in this species, the large tubercule extends much of the way down the medial lobe and into the lateral lobes, is mostly white, and is accompanied by two small colored calli, one on either side of the column apex.

Reichenbach 1861 compares this species to E. cochlidium

Epidendrum cochlidium

Epidendrum cochlidium is a neotropical orchid which can grow both terrestrially and epiphytically in Peru and Venezuela at altitudes ranging from 1.2 km to 2.9 km.-Description:...

.

External links

• A photo of the flower can be found at http://www.orchidspecies.com/epicatillus.htm
• Photos of the inflorescence of this and many other orchids can be found at http://www.ecology.org/ecophoto/orchids/Epidendrum.html
• Photos of flowers of several individuals can be found at http://www.flickr.com/search/?s=rec&w=all&q=Epidendrum+Catillus&m=text