Epidendrum microphyllum is a species of tropical orchid in the genus Epidendrum with non-resupinate flowers.
Description E. microphyllum grows epiphytically at low altitudes in the tropical rain forests of northern Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador (including a site in Napo at 180 mC. H. & P. M. Dodson, "EPIDENDRUM MICROPHYLLUM Lindl.", plate 0474 of Icones Plantarum Tropicarum, Series II: Orchids of Ecuador, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis. 1989.), French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. The small sympodial plant bears rather widely separated (3–5 cm) short, erect stems covered with imbricating sheathes, most of which bear the thick, narrow, alternate leaves. The small (1 cm across) woolly green flowers (sometimes with purple pigment as well) are born on a woolly, apical raceme. The dorsal sepal bends backward, nearly parallel to the ovary, unlike the spreading lateral sepals. The petals are linear to narrowly elliptic, and bend backward to a lesser degree than the dorsal sepal. The lateral margins of the pointed lip partially encircle the apex of the column.
Systematics In 1861, Reichenbach classified this orchid as the only species in the section Sarcophylla Rchb.f. of subgenus Euepidendrum Lindl. of the genus Epidendrum.H. G. Reichenbach, "Orchides" C. Müller, Ed. Walpers. Annales Botanices Systematicae Tomus VI pp. 397, 398. Berlin. 1861 According to the Vienna code, the proper names for these subdivisions of the genus Epidendrum are E. sect. Sarcophylla and E. subg. Epidendrum.International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (Vienna Code). Regnum Vegetabile, sections 21.1 & 21.3, viewable at http://ibot.sav.sk/icbn/no%20frames/0025Ch3Sec3a021.htm
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