Epidendrum dendrobii is a terrestrial species of reed-stemmed Epidendrum

Epidendrum

Epidendrum , abbreviated Epi in horticultural trade, is a large neotropical genus of the orchid family. With more than 1,100 species, some authors describe it as a mega-genus. The genus name refers to its epiphytic growth habit...

of the Orchidaceae

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,...

 which grows on steep slopes in tropical montane cloud forests of Cochabamba

Cochabamba

Cochabamba is a city in central Bolivia, located in a valley bearing the same name in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and is the fourth largest city in Bolivia with an urban population of 608,276 and a metropolitan population of more than 1,000,000 people...

, Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

 and Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

 at altitudes near 2.6 km.

Description

E. dendrobii is a terrestrial, sympodial

Sympodial

Sympodial means "with conjoined feet", and in biology is often used to refer to the outward morphology or mode of growth of organisms.-In botany:...

orchid with tall (~1.2 m.) slender stems without any swelling, covered with foliaceous sheaths, most tipped with long, acute, slightly keeled, distichous leaves. The inflorescenses are short (1.5 cm) lateral racemes, or sometimes (Reichenbach, 1861) panicles, carrying six to eight waxy-textured flowers arising between spathaceous bracts. The sepals are somewhat broader than the petals. The lip is trilobate, with the lateral lobes larger than the median lobe. The callus consists of two lamina at the apex of the column, followed by three broad keels.

Taxonomic Quibbles

According to Kew (In July, 2009), E. dendrobii and E. pileatum (the type species of the subgenus E. subg. Pleuranthium) are the same species. Both Reichenbach, 1861 and Dodson & Vásquez, 1989, distinguish between E. dendrobii, with smaller yellowish flowers, and E. pileatum, with larger (> 1 cm) greenish flowers with each floral segment rolled backwards from the long axis (pileate).