Florida butterfly orchid

Epidendrum tampense Lindley, Edwards’s Bot. Reg. 33: plate 35. 1847; Encyclia tampensis (Lindley) Schlechter; Epidendrum tampense var. albolabium A. D. Hawkes

Plants to 50 cm. Pseudobulbs aggregate, dark green, ovoid-pyriform, 1–7 × 1–2.5 cm. Leaves 1–3, linear-lanceolate, 8–40 × 0.5–2 cm, leathery. Inflorescences racemes to panicles, lax, 10–80 cm. Flowers 3–45, green, yellow, or brown, often suffused with purple; sepals and petals similar, extended, oblanceolate-spatulate, 12–22 × 4–6.5 mm, apex obtuse; lip white, deeply 3-lobed, 12–18 × 12–18 mm when spread, middle lobe usually with large purple spot, suborbiculate, 6–10 mm wide, margins undulate, lateral lobes purple-veined, ovate-triangular; callus on isthmus; anthers 1, yellow; column straight, prominent wings on sides of stigmatic cavity, 1 cm. Capsules: pedicel 15–17 mm, body 17–27 × 15 mm, beak 3 mm.

Flowering May--Sep; fruiting throughout year. Epiphytic on many different trees and palms in forests and hammocks; 0--100 m; Fla.; West Indies (Bahamas).

Flowers of Encyclia tampensis are fragrant, with a sweet or honey odor, starting about noon and peaking in early afternoon when small bees in genera Auglochlora and Halictus pollinate the flowers.