Epidendrum conopseum
species of plant
Epidendrum conopseum, synonym Epidendrum magnoliae, sometimes called the green-fly orchid, is a species of orchid in the genus Epidendrum.
Description
It has robust roots that cling to tree bark and short, often pendulous cane-shaped stems wrapped in tubular leaf sheaths. Each stem carries two or three leathery, elliptical leaves with acute or subacute tips. Leaves are broadly elliptical, up to 10 cm (3.9 in) long, thick and almost leathery. Flowering typically occurs from late autumn to spring, producing a terminal, racemose, erect, loose inflorescence about 16 cm long with a few flowers. One plant will produce 6-14 flowers that are a bit over 2 cm in diameter, pale green to bronze-colored. Sepals and petals are oblanceolate, the lip is three lobed at the apex.
The diploid chromosome number of E. conopseum has been determined as 2n = 40, the haploid chromosome number as n = 20.
Distribution
It is the most northern-growing epiphytic orchid in North America, being found wild in the southeastern United States in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina and also in northeastern Mexico (Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas). Epidendrum conopseum grows on the branches of evergreen and deciduous trees such as Magnolia grandiflora, Quercus virginiana, Taxodium distichum, Swamp Black Gum, or American beech, at low elevations less than 100 m (330 ft) above sea level.
The public source identifies “Epidendrum conopseum” as species of plant. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Epidendrum, conopseum and species.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 23, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q21162616. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Epidendrum conopseum” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.