Epidendrum tulcanense Hágsater & Dodson 2013 GROUP Secundum SUBGROUP Elongatum
Photos © Ramiro Medina/Drawing by © Jimenez and The AMO Herbaria Website
LATE
LATE
Common Name The Tulcan Epidendrum [A town in Ecuador near the Colombian border where the type was collected]
Flower Size 1" [2.5 cm]
Found in Narino and Putumayo departments of southern Colombia in the interandean valley and in Carchi and Imbabura provinces of Ecuador on the Pacific coast in grasslands at elevations of 2400 to 3200 meters as a giant sized, cold growing terrestrial with simple, cane-like, terete stems carrying distichous, all along the apical 2/3's of the stem, coriaceous, unequal, the basal and apical leaves are smaller, lanceolate, unequally bilobed, smooth, margin entire leaves that blooms in the late spring through late fall on a terminal, without a spathe, pluri-racemose, peduncle [45 to 105 cm] long, elongate, completely enveloped by tubular, finely striated sheaths, very compact, pyramid-like, successsively 4 to 10, 30 to 90 flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary, triangular, acuminate floral bracts and carrying non-resupinate, non-fragrant, orange red flowers with a white callus which turns yellowish.
"Epidendrum tulcanense is part of GROUP Secundum SUBGROUP Elongatum Characterized by the complicated, tuberculose callus on the lip, with a low column, with an incumbent anther. This species is a terrestrial and has orange-red or tomato-red colored flowers with a white callus, the callus formed by 9 tubercles in two series, the basal two pairs of 2 tubercles each, the main apical body of 5 sub-equal tubercles. Epidendrum elongatum Jacq. a terrestrial species described from around Caracas and which also has orange flowers, has a much smaller callus. Epidendrum cochlidium Lindl. described from a collection by Mathews from Peru is said to have a large, complex callus, with the apex of the callus reaching the apical sinus of the lip; though color was not recorded by the collector, only suggested by Lindley probably on the basis of the dried material which is brown today. Epidendrum laurelense Hágsater & Dodson (2001) has a similar coloring, but a much more open raceme, petals 3-veined, the veins unbranched, and the lobes of the lip narrower; it is found at lower altitude in the basin of Maldonado. Epidendrum imperator Hágsater (2004) from Antioquia has larger flowers, sepals .56 to .72" [14 to 18 mm] long, the mid-lobe of the lip much reduced, and the lateral lobes retrorse, the posterior margin dentate." Hagsater etal 2013
"Similar red-flowered species to Epidendrum aromoense are: Epidendrum tulcanense Hágsater & Dodson has also red flowers but it is distinguished by the large white massive callus, formed by nine unequal tubercles: four basal ones and the main structure formed by five sub-equal tubercles. Epidendrum laurelense Hágsater & Dodson, that differ from E. aromoense by the carmine-red flowers on a much more open raceme, with a massive white callus formed by a semicircular sulcate, marginally plurilobulate fleshy plate, found between Tulcán and Maldonado, on the border between Ecuador and Colombia, on roadsides and rocks in wet forest between at around 2000 to 2500 m above sea level. Epidendrum coroicoënse Schltr. is another species similar to E. aromoense by the lacquer-red flowers; however, the former species is known from southern Peru and western Bolivia, along the upper Amazon slope of the Cordillera Oriental of the Andes, and differ from E. aromoense by the narrow leaves about 6–7 times longer than wide, the petals wider than the sepals, elliptic-sub-orbicular, the lip bearing lateral lobes overlapping with the mid-lobe when spread; and callus 5-tuberculate with two basal and three apical tubercles, and without keels. Epidendrum portokalium Hágsater & Dodson is another species with red flowers that resembles E. aromoense, but it is found on the Amazon slopes of the Andes in central Ecuador, and differs from E. aromoense by the callus unequally 7-tuberculed (with four basal tubercles and three apical ones" Epidendrum aromoense (Orchidaceae, Laeliinae), a New Species from the Coastal Dry Forests in Western Ecuador (PDF Download Available). Available from: Epidendrum aromoense Orchidaceae Laeliinae a New Species from the Coastal Dry Forests in Western Ecuador [accessed Nov 01 2017
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orquideologia 29: 1 Hagsater & Medina 2012 photo fide; * Icones Orchidacearum 14 Plate 1491 Hagsater & Dodson 2013 photo/drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 15 [1] Plate 1516 Hagsater & Sanchez 2015 see recognition section; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 as E aff tulcanense photos ok; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 16[1] Plate 1605 Hagsater & Santiago 2018 See recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1718 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 see recognintion section; Icones Orchidacearum 18(2) Plate 1871 Hagsater & Jimenez 2021 see recognition section
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
