Epidendrum boricuomutelianum Hágsater & L.Sánchez 2004 GROUP Mutelianum

TYPE Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website

EARLY

Common Name The Boricua Mutelianum Epidendrum [The Original Indiginous Inhabitants of Puerto Rico and the group within Epidendrum that contains this species]

Flower Size .6" [1.5 cm]

Found only in Puerto Rico in montane forests at elevations around 800 meters as a small to medium sized, warm growing epiphyte with a simple, erect, cane-like, laterally compressed stem carrying 3 to 5, on the apical half to 1/4 of the stem, coriaceous, distichous, narrowly elliptic, acute, somewhat retuse leaves that blooms in the fall to early winter on a terminal, racemose to paniculate, erect, .8 to 2.8" [2 to 7 cm] long, few to many flowered inflorescence arising through 1 to 2, conduplicate, acuminate spathaceous bracts with sometimes an intermediate bract similar to the spathaceous bracts and with lanceolate, acute floral bracts and carrying 4 to 20, partly opening to cleistogamous, yellow-orange flowers with a brown red column.

"Epidendrum boricuomutelianum belongs to the GROUP Mutelianum characterized by the sympodial habit, simple stems, apical, paniculate inflorescence subtended by several imbricating bracts, 3-lobed lip and the petals as wide or wider than the sepals. The new species can be recognized by the caespitose habit, 3 to 5, narrowly elliptic leaves distributed towards the apex of the laterally compressed stems, erect racemose to paniculate inflorescence with the peduncle shorter than the apical leaf and the orange-yellow, clesitogamous flowers, the lip 3-lobed with the midlobe triangular, rounded. It is similar to Epidendrum mutelianum which has cream colored flowers, the apex of the column somewhat tinged purple and found on the lesser Antillies. They are both similar to Epidendrum pallidiflorum Hooker, but that species has greenish cream flowers with purple lines and a longer peduncle of the inflorescence (more than 4" [10 cm} long. They are somewhat similar to Epidendrum patens Sw., which has a longer peduncle to 4" [10 cm] long, subrhombic, white flowers with purplé dots at the base of the lip and the apex of the column, and the lip bilobed at the apex, the lobes divergent." Hagsater etal 2004

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Icones Orchidaceaum 7 Plate 711 Hagsater & Salazar 2004 drawing fide; Orchid Flora of the Greater Antilles Ackerman 2014

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