Epidendrum centropetalum Rchb.f. 1852 GROUP Oerstedella SUBGROUP Centropetalum
Photo by © Orchi and The Wikimedia Website.
Plant and Flowers in situ Costa Rica
Photo by © Jay Pfahl
Comparison of E abberans to the left and E centropetalum to the right
Photos by © Hotsu and his Flickr Orchid Photo Website and Orchi and The Wikimedia Website
Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website
LATE
and EARLY 
Common Name The Spur-Like Gland Epidendrum
Flower Size less than 1 1/2"
Native to Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama in wet lower montane evergreen to semi-deciduous forests from elevations of 1200 to 1500 meters in full to partial sun as a small to medium sized, cool growing orchid with simple, cane-like, terete, thin, erect stems producing keikies from the subapical internodes and carrying 5 to 21, distributed nearly throughout the stems, alternate, generally deciduous; sheaths tubular, strongly verrucose, the lower ones non-foliaceous; blade articulate, linear-lanceolate, subcoriaceous, apex acute, margin entire, the basal and apical leaves smaller that blooms in the late winter through summer on an apical, from the mature stem and the keikies, peduncle terete, thin, straight; rachis terete, thin, straight, nearly totally hidden by the floral bracts, flowering only once, racemose to slightly paniculate, short, slightly arcuate, simultaneously 4 to 13 flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary, narrowly triangular, acuminate floral bracts and carrying resupinate, of an intense pink color, with a white spot at the base, callus yellow and without a fragrance.
This species has a wet, dry growing pattern that requires high humidity and water throughout the year but less when mature and will bloom on a terminal, few to many flowered inflorescence occuring in the late winter, spring and early summer. It can be easily found in fruit trees near its natural habitat.
Very similar to E Abberans but it differs mostly in the elongate lateral lobes of the lip, the rostellum perpendicular to the column and fragrant flowers which in C centropetalum are much shorter and not as wide spreading as the apical lobes, the rostellum is parellel to the column and the flowers have no scent.
"Epidendrum centropetalum belongs to the GROUP Oerstedella which is characterized by the sympodial habit, mostly verrucose stems, and the rostellum which is perpendicular to the axis of the column instead of parallel, forming a wide, open sinus, without a viscidium; and the SUBGROUP Centropetalum which has thin stems, producing many keikies, a few-flowered, compact raceme, a semi-tubular clinandrium-hood which is slightly longer than the body of the column, pink flowers with a wide lip and a single, tunnel-shaped callus, and obovoid, non bird-wing type pollinia. The species is recognized by the very short inflorescence with intense pink flowers, the lateral lobes triangular, and the midlobe large and wide in the shape of an inverted "V", with a large white spot at the base, the callus tridentate and obovoid pollinia, not bird-wing type. Epidendrum aberrans Schltr. has a longer inflorescence with light pink flowers and the lip white to pink, the midlobe forms a basal, narrow isthmus with parallel sides, and the callus is bicallose, the pollinia are bird-wing type. Epidendrum pansamalae Schltr. has similarly colored flowers, but the lateral lobes are spreading, oblong and the midlobe flabellate, without any apical sinus, the lobes thus formed are shorter and much wider than the lateral lobes, and separated from them by a very short, narrow isthmus, the clinandrium-hood is deeply dentate. Epidendrum cyclolobum Hágsater & E.Santlago has subsessile inflorescence with pink flowers, a 3-lobed lip, the lateral lobes triangular and rounded, and a wide, orbicular midlobe." Hagsater etal 2006
Synonyms Epidendrum centradenia Rchb.f. 1865; Epidendrum leprosum Schltr. 1923; Epidendrum tenuiflorum Schltr. 1906; Oerstedella centradenia [Rchb.f]Rchb.f 1852; Oerstedella centropetala (Rchb.f.) Rchb.f 1852; Oerstedella tenuiflora Hágsater 1981
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Bot. Zeitung (Berlin)10(42): 732. 1852; *Bot. Zeitung (Berlin) 10(53): 932. 1852; Xenia Orchidaceae Rchb.f 1854 as O centradenia drawing; Xenia Orchidaceae Rchb.f 1854 as O centropetala drawing; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1854; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 17: 41. Panama Schlechter 1922 as Epidendrum tenuiflorum; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 35. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923 as Epidendrum centradenia; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 38. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923 as E leprosum; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 45. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923 as E tenuiflorum; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 129. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923 as E tenuiflorum; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 210. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923 as E centradenia; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 210. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923; The Genus Epidendrum Ames 1936 as Epidendrum centradenia; The Genus Epidendrum Ames 1936 as Epidendrum centropetalum; The Orchids of Panama L.O. Williams & P Allen 1946 as Epidendrum centradenium; The Orchids of Panama L.O. Williams & P Allen 1946; Ceiba Vol 5 No 1 L O Williams 1956; Ceiba Vol 5 No 1 L O Williams 1956 as E centropetalum; Las Orquedias De El Salvador Vol 1 Hamer 1974 as Epidendrum centropetalum drawinghmm/photo hmm; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 9 513 - 576 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977 as Oerstedella centradenia drawing/photo fide; Rudolf Schlechtetr Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 9 513 - 576 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977 as Oerstedella centropetala; Orquideologia Vol 12 No 1 1977 as Epidendrum centradenia; Las Orquedias de El Salvador Vol 3 Hamer 1981 as Oerstedella centropetala drawing ok; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 892 Dodson 1982 as Oerstedella centradenia drawing fide; Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 as Oerstedella centradenia photo fide; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992 as Oerstedella centropetala; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 1457 Dodson 1992 as Oerstedella centradenia drawing fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 1458 Dodson 1992 as Oerstedella centropetala drawing fide; Field Guide to the Orchids Of Costa Rica and Panama Dressler 1993 as Oerstedella centradenia; AOS Bulletin Vol 63 No 1 1994 as Oerstedella centradenia photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 64 No 8 1995 as Oerstedella centradenia photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 65 No 6 1996 as Oerstedella centradenia photo fide; Die Orchideen #9 33-36 tafel 9 Rudolph Schlechter 1997 as Oerstedella centradenia drawing/photo fide; Guatemala Y Sus Orquideas Behar & Tinschert 1998 as Oerstedella centropetala photo fide; Orchid Australia Vol 11 No 5 1999 as Oerstedella centradenia photo; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 42 - 43 pg 2626 - 2762 Brieger 2001 as Oerstedella centradenia photo fide; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 42 - 43 pg 2626 - 2762 Brieger 2001 as Oerstedella centropetala; Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003 as Oerstedella centradeniadrawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 74 No 5 2005 as Oerstedella centradenia photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 8 Plate 801 Hagsater and Sanchez 2006 see recognition section note; Icones Orchidacearum 8 Plate 817 Hagsater 2006 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 8 Plate 825 Hagsater 2006 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 8 Plate 867 Hagsater 2006 see recognition section; AOS Bulletin Vol 76 #12 2007 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 9 Plate 993 Hagsater 2007 see recognition section; AOS Bulletin Vol 78 #6 2009 photo fide;Orchids of Costa Rica Vol 1 Morales 2009 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 # 3 2017 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 87 #1 2018 as Epidendrum centropetalum photo fide; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018 photo fide; Vanishing Beauty, Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 2 Lacaena to Pteroglossa Pupulin 2020 photo fide
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
