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Epidendrum difforme; photograph (c) Laurimar Sepulveda, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Laurimar Sepulveda, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-04-14

Epidendrum difforme Jacq.

Umbrella Epidendrum; Different Epidendrum; Differently-formed epidendrum

Orchidaceae · Leeward Is. AB Ant, Trinidad-Tobago +1 · listed by its genus as an orchid

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Epidendrum difforme, photograph (c) Laurimar Sepulveda, some rights reserved (CC BY)Epidendrum difforme, photograph (c) Laurimar Sepulveda, some rights reserved (CC BY)Epidendrum difforme, photograph (c) Laurimar Sepulveda, some rights reserved (CC BY)Epidendrum difforme, photograph (c) Laurimar Sepulveda, some rights reserved (CC BY)Epidendrum difforme, photograph (c) My-Lan Le, some rights reserved (CC BY)Epidendrum difforme, photograph (c) My-Lan Le, some rights reserved (CC BY) 34 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Coldest month, mean nightly low
22.0°C
Feb at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (sea cell) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
27°C
May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep and Oct at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,312mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
31–43DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, June to December (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Epidendrum difforme (the "Differently Formed Epidendrum") is a species of orchid in the genus Epidendrum. In 1861, Müller classified this species in the subsection Umbellata of the section Planifolia of subgenus Euepidendrum Lindl. of the genus Epidendrum.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Epidendrum difforme", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Epidendrum

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.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Epidendrum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as an orchid, listed under the genus Epidendrum in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “epiphyte”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,660 mm of 2,243 mm) falls in June to December. The temperature curve is flat, 2.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The temperature curve moves under 4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

2,243 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,660 mm of it June to December. Wettest month November at 276 mm, driest month March at 84 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,562 mm to 2,518 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,312 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,243 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 43 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 30, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 22.0 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range 20.6 °C to 23.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.1 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 22.0 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, February, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell that is mostly sea and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 69 to 72% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Epidendrum in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “epiphyte”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Epidendrum difforme through the yearWarmest months May, June, July, August, September and October, mean daily high 27 °C; coldest month February, mean nightly low 22.0 °C; 2,243 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.15°20°25°30°°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 31–43RH 69–72%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 20 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C25 / 22–2625 / 22–2625 / 23–2626 / 23–2727 / 24–2827 / 25–2827 / 25–2827 / 25–2827 / 25–2827 / 25–2826 / 24–2725 / 23–26
Night °C22 / 21–2422 / 21–2422 / 21–2423 / 22–2424 / 22–2524 / 23–2524 / 23–2624 / 23–2624 / 23–2624 / 23–2623 / 22–2523 / 22–25
Rain mm130 / 86–14890 / 59–10484 / 67–101120 / 96–134159 / 124–187190 / 111–232246 / 129–283264 / 169–309262 / 188–294256 / 207–287276 / 190–299166 / 127–190
DLI33 / 32–3437 / 36–3841 / 41–4243 / 43–4342 / 41–4241 / 39–4240 / 39–4240 / 39–4137 / 36–3934 / 33–3531 / 31–3231 / 30–32
RH %69 / 62–7269 / 61–7069 / 61–7170 / 63–7271 / 64–7271 / 64–7372 / 64–7472 / 65–7472 / 65–7472 / 65–7572 / 64–7470 / 62–72

The daily extremes were read at a NASA POWER cell that is 16% land: neither it nor the next candidates whose coldest month's mean nightly low is within 2 °C of the median across cells sit in a POWER cell that is mostly land, and the rule reads a cold floor only from a cell that is mostly land, so none is read for this species. Nor is the coldest month's mean nightly low taken as one: it is a mean of a month's lows, not its coldest night. What that cell gave over 44 years: absolute minimum 21.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 22.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 28.4 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 20 grid cells holding the 28 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1522:2380 (13.875, -60.975). Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 20 distinct grid cells holding 28 of the 28 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1522:2380 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells, though its NASA POWER cell is only 16% land and none of the 11 next candidates within 2 °C of the median was mostly land); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 14.00_-61.250, lapse-corrected +284 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 295 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeLeeward Is. AB Ant, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is. · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker15.333, -61.425 · in the densest population, 30 records (71% of those in range)
Kew's description“epiphyte” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 42 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 28 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 19 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 6 km away. 233 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 14 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 42 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Epidendrum difforme, photograph 1did not loadEpidendrum difforme, photograph 2did not loadEpidendrum difforme, photograph 3did not loadEpidendrum difforme, photograph 4did not loadEpidendrum difforme, photograph 5did not loadEpidendrum difforme, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Laurimar Sepulveda, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) My-Lan Le, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Chrysothemis melittifolia Chrysothemis melittifolia Gesneriaceae Photo: CC BY, Guillaume DelaitreClusia major Clusia major Wild Balsam Tree Photo: CC BY, Guillaume DelaitreSelaginella flabellata Selaginella flabellata Fan spikemoss Photo: CC BY, Matteo BellucciSelaginella rotundifolia Selaginella rotundifolia Selaginellaceae Photo: CC BY, Matteo BellucciBegonia obliqua Begonia obliqua Begoniaceae Photo: CC BY, Óscar SampedroAechmea smithiorum Aechmea smithiorum Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, Wolfgang Ahlmer

Other Epidendrum 103 in the reference

Epidendrum amphistomum Epidendrum amphistomum Big-mouth star orchid Photo: CC0, author not statedEpidendrum anceps Epidendrum anceps Brown-flower butterfly orchid Photo: CC BY-SA, Kurt Miller Epidendrum angustisegmentum Orchidaceae Epidendrum anisatum Epidendrum anisatum Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Carlos Domínguez-RodríguezEpidendrum arachnoglossum Epidendrum arachnoglossum Spider-Tongue Orchid Photo: CC BY, Nicolás Baresch UribeEpidendrum atacazoicum Epidendrum atacazoicum Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Francisco Sánchez KarsteEpidendrum aura-usecheae Epidendrum aura-usecheae Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Daniel MesaEpidendrum avicula Epidendrum avicula Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, cristianol1456Epidendrum blepharistes Epidendrum blepharistes Funky Orchid Photo: CC0, author not stated Epidendrum brachyrhodochilum Orchidaceae Epidendrum calanthum Epidendrum calanthum Beautiful Blooming Epidendrum Photo: CC BY, HenrryEpidendrum capricornu Epidendrum capricornu Orchidaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated all 104 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Amphiglottis difformis; Auliza difformis; Epidendrum arachnoideum; Epidendrum radiatum; Epidendrum virens and 1 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Orchidaceae
Described by
Jacq.
Native to
Leeward Is. AB Ant, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is.
Wild records
42 in range · 19 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 5 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (5 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 14.00_-61.250, lapse-corrected +284 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: NASA POWER's cell is mostly sea (16% land), so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 64 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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