Epidendrum boscoense Hágsater & Dodson 2001 GROUP Alpicolum SUBGROUP Alpicolum

TYPE Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & Dodson and The AMO Herbario Website

Common Name The San Juan Bosco Epidendrum [a town near where the species was discovered]

Flower Size .8" [2 cm]

Found in southern Ecuador on the Amazonian slope of the Andes in swamps at elevations around 1000 meters as a miniature sized, warm to cool growing epiphyte with simple, cane-like, slightly flexuous, arising from near the base of the previous stems carrying 4, all along the upper 2/3's of the stem, grass-like, linear, acute, entire margin, progressively longer leaves that blooms in the summer on a terminal, on mature stems, racemose, suberect, 1.6" [4 cm] long, to 10 flowered inflorescence arising through a linear, tubular, conduplicate, acute, longer than the peduncle spathe and has longer than the ovary, linear-lanceolate floral bracts and carrying apparently successively opening, green flowers.

"Epidendrum boscoense is part of GROUP Alpicolum SUBGROUP Alpicolum characterized by the simple, cane-like stems, long, narrow 1 to 3 spathaceous bracts, fox-tail-like inflorescence and numerous flowers with fleshy lip. The species at first sight looks like an oversize E. miserrimum Rchb. f., but upon closer inspection belongs to the GROUP Alpicolum SUBGROUP Alpicolum, with the parallel-sided spathe and fox-tail inflorescence, though spaced and lax-flowered. It is recognized by the long, narrow leaves to .08" [2 mm] wide), the sepals .132" [3.3 mm] long and the entire, trowel-shaped lip. Epidendrum armeniacum Lindl. has similar-sized flowers, but the lip is 3-lobed and the habit much larger, the inflorescence a densely flowered fox-tail. Epidendrum dialyrhombicum Hágsater & Dodson also has narrow leaves, but these are some .16" [4 mm] wide, and the 4inflorescence is compact, many-flowered and the lip free from the column." Hagsater etal 2001

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Icones Orchidaceaum 4 Plate 419 Hagsater & Sanchez 2001 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 15 [2] Plate 1588 Hagsater & Sanchez 2016 see recognition section;

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