Epidendrum secundum

Taxobox
name = "Epidendrum secundum"

---

regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Liliopsida
ordo = Orchidales
familia = Orchidaceae
genus = "Epidendrum"
species = "E. secundum"
binomial = "Epidendrum secundum"

binomial_authority = Jacq.

"Epidendrum secundum", one of the crucifix orchids, is a poorly understood reed stemmed species, which Dressler (1989) describes as "the "Epidendrum secundum" complex." According to Dressler, there are dozens of varieties, some of which appear to deserve species rank.

The flowers are non-resupinate (unlike "E. ibaguense" and "E. radicans"), can come in shades of lilac, red, orange, or yellow, and feature a notable callus on the trilobate lip. The plant is rather cool-growing and can tolerate a light frost.

Name Quibbles

Although the Linnaean binomial "Epidendrum secundum" is well established by Jacquin's publication in his Enumeratio (1760) and Selectarum (1763), the seeming inappropriateness of his word choice has long been noted, not only by Dressler (1975) but also by Cogniaux in Flora brasiliensis, with the listing

Epidendrum secundum (sed floribus non secundis) Jacq.

Unlike the illustration in Selectarum (see below), the inflorescence of this taxon is not secund, that is, the flowers are not all on one side of the inflorescence, are not all in one plane, nor is the plant in any way "lop sided." Rather the flowers surround the inflorescence spike in a cylindrical manner, producing a highly congested raceme. Despite the generic epithet, "Epidendrum secundum" frequently grows terrestrially. Due to this literal inappropriateness of the name and the origin of this plant in a country where English is not the common language, any "common names" constructed by literally translating the Linnaean binomial into English are completely inappropriate: not only are such names not common, they are completely misleading. Such names include "lop sided star orchid," and "flowers all in one plane Epidendrum," among others. Nevertheless, the insistence of some database constructors that each taxon must have a common name causes such phrases to proliferate.

Occurrence

"Epidendrum secundum" occurs in the montane forest of the neotropics (up to 2 miles high), including Cusco, southeastern Peru and Brazil. It has also been found in disturbed roadside habitats in Picingauba, Brazil, near sea level, together with "E. fulgens" and natural hybrids between the two.

Sources

*Dressler, R. L. "Jacquin Names -- Again" Taxon 24(5/6): 647-650. November 1975
*Dressler, R. L. "Will the Real "Epidendrum ibaguense" please stand up?" American Orchid Society Bulletin 58 (1989) 796-800
*Pansarin & Amaral, "Reproductive biology of "Epidendrum secundum" Plant Biology 10 (2008)211-219.