ADDISONIA 55 
(Plate 28) 
EPIDENDRUM PALEACEUM 
Chaffy Epidendrum 
Native of southern Mexico and Central America 
Family ORCHIDACEAE OrcHip Family 
Dinema paleaceum Lindl. Bot. Reg. 26: Mise. 51. 1840. 
Epidendrum aureum Lindl. Bot. Reg. 29: Misc. 4. 1843. 
Epidendrum paleaceum Reichb. f. Beitr. Orch. Centr. Am. 80. 1866. 
An epiphytic plant, the scaly stem pater n the pseudobulbs 
arising at rather distant intervals. The pseudobulbs are an inch 
long or a little longer and a half inch = es hae sateeed: 
oblong-elliptic, with two or three brown scales at the base, these 
each aes arising from a brownish bract which is longer than the 
pedicel and ovary. The flowers are about three fourths of an inch 
wide. ‘The sepals and petals are acute, the former about one half 
inch long and one eighth inch wide, the latter similar but a little 
shorter. The oblong lip, which is entire and slightly peepee rn 
just aoe the acute apex, is about one third of an inch long and 
twelf an inch wide, and yellow, with two longitudinal red tines 
near the as The column is about three aateeerie of an inch long. 
The plant which furnished the material for this illustration was 
collected by Percy Wilson near Puerto Sierra, Honduras, early in 
1903. Shortly after its arrival it flowered in the conservatories of 
the New York Botanical Garden. A tropical house suits its cultural 
requirements. 
The genus Epidendrum, in its broad and generally accepted sen 
comprises about five hundred species, and is widely Aatiibitea 
from Mexico to South America, in the West Indies, and in the 
southeastern United States; it is not known outside of America. 
About nine species have been found within the United States, one 
of these ranging from South Carolina to Florida and Alabama, the 
others being confined to peninsular Florida and the keys. 
The genus, as ustially understood, is extremely polymorphic, 
embracing plants which differ much in habit and structure. They 
are largely epiphytic, some of them, however, growing on rocks. 
Many of them have short thick stems, somewhat resembling bulbs 
