Epidendrum sect. Schistochila
Introduction '''''Epidendrum'' sect. ''Schistochila''''' Rchb.f. (1861) is a section of the subgenus ''E''. subg. ''Amphiglottium'' Lindl. (1841) of the Genus ''Epidendrum'' of the Orchidaceae. ''E''. sect. ''Schistochila'' differs from the section ''E''. sect. ''Holochila'' in that the species in  ''E''. sect. ''Holochila'' have undivided lips; the species in  ''E''. sect. ''Schistochila'' have lobate lips. The species in both ''E''. sect. ''Schistochila'' and ''E''. sect. ''Holochila'' have racemose inflorescences, unlike those in ''E''. sect. ''Polycladia'' (the other section of ''E''. subg. ''Amphiglottium''), which have truly paniculate inflorescences. Like the other sections of ''E''. subg. ''Amphiglottium'', the members of ''E''. sect. ''Schistochila'' are sympodial orchids bearing thin stems with alternate leaves (not pseudobulbs), a long peduncle covered with thin, imbricating sheathes, and a lip adnate to the very end of the column.
Subsections Reichenbach, 1861, described three subsections of  ''Epidendrum'' sect. ''Schistochila'':* ''E''. subsect. ''Integra'' ("''laciniis omnibus integris'' . . . . . . . C. ''Schistochila integra''.") lip margins without any crenulation, fimbriation, denticulation, or laceration. * ''E''. subsect. ''Carinata'' ("''laciniis laceria, lobo medio lamellato'' . . . . . . D. ''Schistochila carinata.''") lacerate lip margins, medial lobe of lip with a keel (carina). * ''E''. subsect. ''Tuberculata'' ("''laciniis laceria'' ''lobo medio nuso basi bicalloso . . E. Schistochila tuberculata''") lacerate lip margins, medial lobe of the lip with a large tubercule at the base.A biochemical examination of the lacerate subsections encompassing plastid nucleotide sequence data from the ''trn''L—''trn''F regions, Amplified Fragment Length Polyorphism (AFLP) data, and somatic chromosome number for 30 individuals in three of the thirteen recognized species of ''E''. subsect. ''Tuberculata'' and twenty individuals in eleven of the twelve recognized species of ''E''. subsect. ''Carinata'' suggested the following conclusions:* The section ''E''. sect. ''Schistochila'' is monophyletic;* The subsection ''E''. subsect. ''Tuberculata'' is monophyletic;* The subsection ''E''. subsect. ''Carinata'' is polyphyletic and resolvable into an "Atlantic" and an "Andean" clade;* The species ''E. radicans'' is a sister to the remaining subsections of ''E''. sect. ''Schistochila''. * The three species of ''E''. subsect. ''Tuberculata'' (''E. cochlidium'', ''E. secundum'', and ''E. xanthinum'') might not be monophyletic.
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