page_title: Epidendrum
section_title: Synonymy
hierarchical_section_title: Epidendrum / Synonymy
caption_attribution_description: English: Epidendrum radicans in situ, Tziscao, Chiapas, Mexico from Lucas Renique
context_page_description: Epidendrum, abbreviated Epi in the horticultural trade, is a large neotropical genus of the orchid family. With more than 1,500 species, some authors describe it as a mega-genus. The genus name refers to its epiphytic growth habit.
  When Carl Linnaeus named this genus in 1763, he included in this genus all the epiphytic orchids known to him. Although few of these orchids are still included in the genus Epidendrum, some species of Epidendrum are nevertheless not epiphytic.
context_section_description: Initially, European taxonomists applied the generic epithet Epidendrum to all newly discovered epiphytic orchids.  Gradually, many of these "Epidendrums" were recognized as being quite diverse and deserving of different generic epithets—many belong to different tribes or subtribes (e.g. Vanda).  To add to the confusion, however, many descriptions of  closely related species were published with different generic epithets.
  As if the confusion caused by these publications were not great enough, many closely related genera (or perhaps subgenera, sections, or subsections) have been recognized and published.  According to the modern rules of taxonomy, each new proposed genus that is split off from Epidendrum must bear the name of the oldest generic epithet published for a member of the new genus.  Hence, many genera which have been brought into synonymy with Epidendrum have later been segregated out again.  Because most of these decisions rest on the informed opinions of authorities, the segregated taxa are often then re-published as synonyms.  Hence, some of the following information may seem a bit contradictory, especially if the assertion that two names are "synonyms" is misconstrued as an assertion that the two names mean exactly the same thing.
  The following genera have been brought into synonymy with Epidendrum:
  Amphiglottis Salisb.
  Auliza Small
  Coilostylis Raf.
  Didothion Raf.
  Diothonea Lindl.
  Dothilophis Raf.
  Doxosma Raf.
  Epicladium Small
  Epidanthus L.O.Williams
  Epidendropsis Garay & Dunst.
  Exophya Raf.
  Hemiscleria Lindl.
  Kalopternix Garay & Dunst.
  Lanium (Lindl.) Benth.
  Larnandra Raf.
  Microepidendrum Brieger (nom. inval.)
  Minicolumna Brieger (nom. inval.)
  Nanodes Lindl.
  Neolehmannia Kraenzl.
  Neowilliamsia Garay
  Nyctosma Raf.
  Phadrosanthus Neck. ex Raf.
  Physinga Lindl.
  Pleuranthium Benth.
  Pseudepidendrum Rchb.f.
  Psilanthemum Klotzsch ex Stein (1892)
  Seraphyta Fisch. & C.A.Mey.
  Spathiger Small
  Stenoglossum Kunth
  Tritelandra Raf..
  Genera which have been erected (or resurrected) from Epidendrum include the following examples:
  Anacheilium (Lindl..) Withner & P.A.Harding (2004).  This genus contains more than 50 species, reclassified from Prosthechea, Encyclia, and Epidendrum.
  Barkeria
  Dimerandra
  Caularthron
  Coilostylis (Raf.)Withner & Harding
  Encyclia  This is another "mega-genus" differing from Epidendrum in that the plants are mostly pseudobulbous, and in that the lip "encircles" the column, rather than being adnate.  Like Epidendrum, genera have been and are likely to continue to be split off from this genus.
  Euchile (Dressler & G.E. Pollard) C.L. Withner (1998) was elevated from a section of Encyclia with two species.
  Hormidium Lindl. ex Heynh, described by Brieger as having the lip adnate to the proximal part of the column.  Brieger placed more than 100 species in this genus. (Lindley was unsure if this was a genus, subgenus, or section.)  Withner and Harding recently transferred two more species into this genus:  one from Epidendrum and one from Encyclia.
  Microepidendrum Brieger ex W.E.Higgins (2002)
  Nanodes
  Oerstedella Rchb.f.
  Oestlundia W.E.Higgins (2002)
  Panarica  Withner & P.A.Harding (2004)  contains six species, some from Prosthechea and some from  Epidendrum
  Pollardia  Withner & P.A.Harding (2004) contains seventeen species, some from Prosthechea and some from Epidendrum.
  Prosthechea  This debatable genus contains the "cockleshell orchids", with lips which are adnate to the column only about halfway to the apex, and which "encircle" the end of the column.  Most of the species of this genus were long classified in Encyclia.  Some species of this genus have been placed in Anacheilium (Lindl.) Withner & P.A.Harding (2004) and Panarica  Withner & P.A.Harding (2004).
  Pseudencyclia  Chiron & V.P.Castro (2003)
  Psychilis
caption: Epidendrum radicans in the wild.
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