Epidendrum cochlidium (or Flor de San José) is a neotropical orchid which can grow both terrestrially and epiphytically in Peru and Venezuela at altitudes ranging from 1.2 km to 2.9 km.

Amphiglottium which is characterized by a sympodial growth habit, terminal inflorescences, stems and peduncles covered with tight, imbricating, distichous sheathes, stems which do not swell into pseudobulbs, terminal inflorescences which are nearly always racemose, and flowers with the lip adnate to the sides of the column to its apex.

The leathery, ovate-oblong obtuse and emarginate leaves whose basal sheathes cover the upper part of the stem grow to 12 cm long by 2.5 cm wide.

The peduncle can grow to 0.6 m long and ends in a congested raceme; rarely, the inflorescence will branch into a panicle.

Tuberculata, the lobes are lacerate, and a tubercle covers the center of the lip.