Epidendrum maroniense Hágsater & E.Santiago 2013 GROUP Pseudepidendrum SUBGROUP Pluriracemosum TYPE Drawing by © O Perez and The AMO Herbaria Website

EARLY

Common Name The Saint Laurent du Maroni Epidendrum [The Western Half of Fr Guiana]

Flower Size 1.2” [3 cm]

Found in western Guiana in non flooded, moist forests at elevations around 190 to 220 meters as a medium to large sized, hot growing epiphyte with cane-like, simple, thin, straight, terete stems carrying 9 to 11, all along the stem, alternate, articulate, unequal in size, the 3 lowest much smaller, subcoriaceous, abaxially tinged reddish, elliptic, short acuminate, margin entire leaves that blooms in the summer and early fall on a terminal, pluriracemose, suberect, peduncle .8 to 1.2” [2 to 3 cm] long, thin, laterally compressed, provided with 1 to 2 basally tubular, conduplicate above, acute straight, rachis laterally thin, 5.2 to 6” [13 to 15 cm] long, laxly, successsively 2 to 5, 4 to 12 flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary, triangular, acuminate, amplexicaul floral bracts and carrying resupinate, green flowers with the disc of the lip and column are white, immaculate or the calli tinged purple.

"Epidendrum maroniënse belongs to the GROUP Pseudepidendrum which is characterized by caespitose plants, cane-like stems, acute to acuminate leaves, usually apical inflorescence, the mostly filiform petals and the lip usually 3-lobed (with 3 parallel fleshy keels), the apical lobe often bifurcate, the “bird-wing” type pollinia, at least the inner pair, and SUBGROUP Pluriracemosum which has a racemose and few flowered inflorescence on an elongate peduncle, usually producing new racemes over the years and thus pluri-racemose, the rachis is elongate, and thus lax flowered, the flowers bicolored, basically green to brown with the lip white to purple, spotted or not, the inner pollinia are bird-wing type, but the outer pair are lentil-shaped. The species is recognized by the relatively short plants 16 to 24" [40 to 60 cm] tall with a pluri-racemose, lax-flowered inflorescence, flowers large, successive, lateral sepals .664 to .68" [16.6 to 17 mm] long with the apex rounded, petals linear-filiform with the apex somewhat widened, the lip widely obcordate in outline, base widely cuneate, and the column .6" [15 mm] long. Epidendrum pluriracemosum Hágsater & E. Santiago has smaller flowers, lateral sepals .36 to .46" [9 to 10.5 mm] long, with the apex acute, petals linear-filiform, the apex not widened, and the lip clearly 3-lobed, the base cordate. Epidendrum unguiculatum (C. Schweinf.) Garay & Dunst. has taller plants, 24 to 40" [60 to 100 cm] high, the inflorescence up to 22" [55 cm] long with an elongate peduncle covered with up to 4 bracts, the flowers are very large, the sepals .72 to .8" [18 to 20 mm] long, the lip clearly 3-lobed with the base deeply cordate." Hagsaer etal 2013

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Orchidacearum 14 Plate 1455 Hagsater & Santiago 2013 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 14 Plate 1476 Hagsater & Sanchez 2013 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 14 Plate 1492 Hagsater & Santiago 2013 See recognition section;

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