TROPICAL AMERICAN ORCHIDS 
adhaerens, reniformi-cordatum, basi bicallosum. Gynoste- 
mium generis. 
Stems somewhat branched, mostly concealed by the 
leaf-sheaths. Sheaths tubular, striate-nervose, loose, the 
upper ones rugulose and subcoriaceous. Leaves distichous, 
elliptic-lanceolate, 3.5-6.2 cm. long, 8.5-14 mm. wide, about 
2 cm. apart, obtuse or acutish, cuneate-narrowed to the ses¬ 
sile base, submembranaceous, margins revolute when dry, 
many-nerved, the mid-nerve conspicuously carinate beneath. 
Inflorescence nodding, loosely 10-flowered (more or less). 
Rachis apparently 6 cm. long (usually broken off). Peduncle 
to the lowest flower about 1.6 cm. long, 1-bracted. Floral 
bracts triangular, scarious, concave, the mid-nerve con¬ 
spicuous, much shorter than the pedicellate ovary. Flower 
medium-sized, rather fleshy. Lateral sepals narrowly obo- 
vate, about 1.15 cm. long, 4.5 mm. wide above the middle, 
acute with a strongly thickened dorsal median portion above, 
oblique at base, 5-nerved. Dorsal sepal similar, cuneate, 1.16 
cm. long, about 4.1 mm. wide above, obtusish, thickened near 
the apex, 5-nerved (the lateral pair indistinct). Petals much 
narrower, cuneate-spatulate, about 1.15 cm. long, 2.5-3 
mm. wide near the apex, rounded above, near the apex 
fleshy-thickened in the centre, 1-nerved with several 
branches, margin inconspicuously erose ccllular-ciliolate. 
Labellumlong-adherent to the column; lamina reniform-cor- 
date, semiorbicular, entire, but the irregular margins cellular- 
erose, 4.5-5.1 mm. long in the middle, 7 mm. wide, with a 
blunt point. Disc with a pair of approximate fleshy calli at 
base beneath the apex of the column. Column stout, di¬ 
lated above, about 8 mm. long dorsally and shorter in front. 
Epidendrum erosum is very close to E. jamaicense 
Lindk, but the flower is much more fleshy, the petals 
cuneate-spatulate and minutely erose. E. quadratum Lindl. 
has broader leaves of thicker texture and a different labellum. 
E. suborbiculare Schltr. has shorter leaves, linear petals, and 
a dissimilar lip. [Plate 24: habit life size. 1, labellum, front 
view X about 2. 2, flower X 1 3^.] 
Colombia, Paramo de Guasca, Bro. Arisiide-Joseph 
A464, January 1920. (Type in Herb. Ames No. 28128.) 
