Epidendrum albopropinquum Hágsater & E.Santiago 2015 GROUP Conopseum SUBGROUP Propinquum
TYPE Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website
EARLIER
Common Name The Close White Epidendrum [refers to its similarity to E propinquum]
Flower Size .8" [2 cm]
Found in southern Mexico, southern Guatemala and northern El Salvador in pine/oak or liquidambar forests at elevations around 1300 to 2000 meters as a medium sized, cool growing shrublike epiphyte with an erect, ascending primary stem with branches arising from the apical to subapical internodes just below the leaves that are thin, straight, unequal in size, carrying 2 to 4, carried towards the apex of the stem, articulate, alternate, similar in size, lanceolate, acute, thin, grass-like, dorsally carinate leaves that blooms in the earlier spring and summer on an apical, racemose, distichous, nutant, occurring only once, peduncle filiform, short, .44 to .68" [1.1 to 1.7 cm] long, bractless, rachis filiform, fractiflex, .52 to .8" [1.3 to 2 cm] long, laxly, simultaneously, 5 to 8 flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary, triangular-filiform, long acuminate clasping floral bracts and carrying resupinate, ivory white, the apex of the column turining yellowish with age, sweetly strongly fragrant flowers.
Epidendrum albopropinquum belongs to the GROUP Conopseum which is characterized by the sympodial growth mode, sometimes with branching stems, membranaceous to sub-coriaceous leaves, delicate, relatively small flowers, the lip bicallose, with few to many ribs on the disc of the lip, and the predominantly Mexican SUBGROUP Propinquum which is characterized by the bush-like habit with thin stems, membranaceous leaves, racemose, few flowered compact, inflorescence, and the mostly yellow or pale green flowers. Very similar to and historically lost among E propinquum but E albopropinquum differs mainly in the thin grass-like leaves, the ivory white color of the flowers and the strong hyancinth fragrance as E propinquum has pale green flowers and a very weak fragrance. It has been confused with E lignosum but it differs in the thicker, leathery leaves, apple green to greenish yellow flowers with the apex of the column and anther reddish to purple, and medicinally fragrant flowers. Epidendrum skutchii Ames, F.T.Hubb. & C.Schweinf. often has taller plants, to 48" [120 cm], with linear-lanceolate, acute, grass-like leaves, and apical inflorescence 1.8 to 2.4" [4.5 to 6 cm] long, with radiating, fleshy-thickened veins on the disc of the lip. Epidendrum eduardo-perezii Hágsater & E.Santiago has shorter plants with green flowers, sepals and petals tinged purple, the lip red-purple with multiple evident greenish ribs, column .32" [8 mm] long, green at base and purple at the apex, calli laminar and divergent. Hagsater etal 2015
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Las Orquideas de El Salvador Hamer 1981 partially as E ledifolium [only the part "or ivory white flowers, fragrant of hyacinth"];
*Icones Orchidacearum 15 [1] plate 1501 Hagsater & Santiago 2015 drawing fide;
Icones Orchidacearum 19[3] Plate 1963 Hagsater, Soto 2023 LCDP fide;
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