TYPE LCDP photo by F. O. Espinosa & A. Cisneros/Photo by F. O. Espinosa and The AMO Herbario Website
LATE 
EARLY 
Common Name Mariana and Nicolás Espinosa Barriga's Epidendrum [In honor of the two children of the collector and second author, Mariana and Nicolás Espinosa Barriga, who accompanied the collector in the field.]
Flower Size 1.2" [3 cm]
Found in southwestern Boyacá, near the Mamapacha Massif, and neighboring Cundinamarca departments of Colombia some 40 km distant, upper western slope of the Cordillera Oriental of the Andes northeast of Bogotá in conserved remanants of Andean forest, at elevations of 2130 to 2450 meters as a simple, cane-like, terete, straight stems the basal 2/3 covered by tubular, non-foliar sheaths and carrying ca. 5, distributed along the apical 1/3 of the stem, sub-erect, articulate, unequal, progressively larger; sheaths tubular, smooth; blade lanceolate-elliptic, acute, sulcate, bright green, margins entire, spreading leaves that blooms in the late summer and early fall on a terminal, without a spathe, peduncle 2.8" [7 cm] long, erect, straight, terete, 8" [20 cm] long overall, apical, paniculate with a short branch near the middle, laxly, simultaneously ca. 7 flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary, triangular-linear, acuminate, floral bracts and carrying resupinate flowers with the sepals pale green somewhat tinged brown, petals pale green, column white, sometimes tinged purple towards the apex, lip white; fragrance none.
"Epidendrum maniespinosarum does not match any group well, and thus I propose a new group for this species, the GROUP Maniespinosarum which has caespitose habit, erect paniculate inflorescence, without spathe, few, laxly spaced resupinate flowers, a simple triangular, bicallose lip. It is somewhat reminiscent of the GROUP Herrenhusanum , recognized by the caespitose, sympodial habit, the erect racemose inflorescence subtended by a narrow, long spathe, and non-resupinate flowers. The new species is recognized by the unequal, progressively larger leaves 1.6 to 4" x .52 to .8" [4.0 to 10 x 1.3 to 2.0 cm], lack of any visible spathes, resupinate flowers green, column white, sometimes tinged purple towards the apex, lip white; sepals .508 to .556" [12.7 to 13.9 mm] long, the lip entire, triangular, with the side angles rounded, the apex sub-acute. Epidendrum clavadista Hágsater & Collantes has linear-lanceolate leaves .12 to .2" [0.3 to 0.5 cm] wide, small, nonresupinate flowers, sepals .36 to .4" [9 to 10 mm] long, ochre-yellow, the base of the petals white, apex ochre-yellow, the column and lip white, the apex of the column marked in purple, lip shallowly 3-lobed, mid-lobe of the lip triangular. Epidendrum herrenhusanum Hágsater from between Bucaramanga and Pamplona, Colombia, has larger flowers, sepals .8" [20 mm] long, flowers entirely bronzy-yellow, except for the green column, and mid-lobe of the ovate-acuminate lip; petals are linear. Epidendrum yambrasbambense Hágsater, from Amazonas, Peru, also has very narrow leaves, .12 to .2" [0.3 to 0.5 cm], but greenish white flowers, similar in size, sepals .36 to .4" [9 to 10 mm] long, the lip equally 3-lobed, but the mid-lobe square, apex slightly emarginate; petals free, spreading. Epidendrum veroreveloi Hágsater & Dodson from Ecuador has wider leaves, .64" [1.6 cm] wide, larger copper-green flowers, apical half of the column apple-green, sepals .6 to .64" [15 to 16 mm[ long, and lip entire, ovate, base cuneate, apex obtuse, petals free, spreading." Hagsater etal 2019
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1737 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 LCDP Photo/photo fide
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