Epidendrum micronocturnum Carnevali & G.A.Romero 1996 GROUP Nocturnum SUBGROUP Nocturnum
Photo By © Gerardo Torres and Flickr Photo Website
Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website
Common Name or Meaning The Small Nocturnum Epidendrum
Flower Size .8" [2 cm]
Found in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil and Guyana at elevations around 300 to 900 meters as a miniature sized, hot to warm growing epiphyte or lithophyte with simple, cane-like, laterally compressed towards the apex, terete at the base stems carrying 2 to 6, distributed along the apical half of the stem, coriaceous, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, obtuse, slightly carinate, mucronate, basally clasping leaves that blooms at any time of the year on a terminal, racemose, becoming pluriracemose over the years, successively single, several flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary, amplexicaul, triangular, acute to acuminate floral bracts.
"Epidendrum micronocturnum belongs to the GROUP Nocturnum which is characterized by the sympodial, caespitose plants, short, racemose or pluri-racemose inflorescence, without spathaceous bracts, usually large, star-shaped flowers, with similar sepals and petals, and the SUBGROUP Nocturnum which has cane-like stems, non-thickened towards the middle, and usually successive flowers; the flowers are mostly indistinguishable in shape. The species can be recognized by the short plants, 3.6 to 6" [9 to 15 cm] tall, generally with 2 to 6 narrow leaves, .16 to .24" [4 to 6 mm] wide, small flowers, sepals .6 to .8" [15 to 20 mm long and the ovary .88 to 1.04" [22 to 26 mm] long. The species grows in the upper Amazon Basin as do Epidendrum longicolle Lindl. and E. minus (Cogn.) Hágsater, but the former has 5 to 12, linear-lanceolate, acuminate leaves 10:1 to 20:1, 2 to 6" x .2 to .32" [5 to 15 x 0.5 to 0.8 cm], large flowers, sepals .112 to .168" [28 to 42 mm long, the lateral lobes are joined to the mid-lobe along ˝-1/3 of their length, the ovary is longer, 1.2 to 1.6" [30 to 40 mm] long. The former species has stems with 5 to 9, lanceolate leaves, 4:1 to 6:1, 1.8 to 4.6" x .32 to .8" [4.5 to 11.5 x 0.8 to 2.0 cm], sepals .88 to 1.28" [22 to 32 mm] long. E. mininocturnum Dodson is endemic to the lower Pacific slope of the Andes in southern Colombia and northern Ecuador, stems with 4 to 5 leaves, 3:1-4:1, 1.28 to 3" x .32 to .8" [ [3.2 to 7.5 x 0.8 to 2.0 cm], larger flowers, sepals 1.08 to 1.12" [27 to 28 mm] long, a similar ovary, 1.08 to 1.2" [27 to 30 mm] long, lateral lobes of the lip with numerous thickened veins." Hagsater etal 2010
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 1 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003;
Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1350 Hagsater 2010 See recognition section;
Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1356 Hagsater 2010 drawing fide;
Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1357 Hagsater & Dodson 2010 See Recognition section;
Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1358 Hagsater 2010 see recognition section;
Icones Orchidacearum 15 [1] Plate 1561 Hagsater & Sanchez 2015 see recognition section; Orquideas de Roirama Luz & Franco 2012 photo fide;
Icones Orchidacearum 16(2) Plate 1695 Hagsater & Jimenez 2018 see recognition section
