Epidendrum caranquii Hágsater et Salas Guerr. 2019 GROUP Mancum

TYPE Drawing

TYPE Photo by © M. Salas G. /TYPE Drawing by © R Jimenez and AMO Herbaria Website

LATE EARLY

Common Name Caranqui's Epidendrum [In honor of Jorge Marcelo Caranqui Aldaz (1972-), director of the CHEP herbarium of the Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, Riobamba, Ecuador, who collected the type. He specializes in inventories of wet tropical and montane forests]

Flower Size .6" [1.5 cm]

Found in southern Ecuador, on the Cordillera del Cóndor, as well as neighboring Department of Amazonas Peru in the in the Cordillera de Yasgolga. on old trees on sandstone of Andean Tepui, at elevations of 1800 to 2900 meters as a just medium sized, cool to cold growing epiphyte with erect, cane-like, thin, straight, terete at the base, laterally compress towards the apex, produced for the lower internodes of the previous stem, covered with non-foliar sheaths at the base. Leaves 1 to 4 per stem, distributed along the apical 1/2 of the stem, erect, straight, base conduplicate; foliar sheaths, striated, rugose; blade unequal, coriaceous, oblong-lanceolate, bilobate at the apex. flowering the late spring and early summer on a terminal, arising through a lanceolate, acute, ancipitose, covering almost all the peduncle spathe, peduncle 3.4 [8.5 cm] long, rachis 4.456" [11.4 cm], arching, 7.12" [17.8 cm] long overall, racemose, elongate, slightly laterally compressed, not ancipitose, lax, successively 16 to 38 flowered inflorescence, eventually all open at once, and with much shorter than the ovary, triangular, acute, the apical ones shorter, embracing floral bracts and carrying , non-resupinate flowers, buds and flowers brown, sepals brown, yellow towards the base and apex, petals yellow, lip yellow with brown overlay, column white, with wine-red dots at the apex, anther pale yellow; no fragrance registered.

"Epidendrum caranquii belongs to the GROUP Mancum which is characterized by the sympodial growth, narrow spathaceous bract with parallel sides, erect raceme with non-resupinate flowers and a generally reduced, fleshy lips. The new species is recognized by 1 to 4 lanceolate-oblong leaves 3.12" to 4.66" x .52 to .68" [7.8 to 11.6 x 1.4 to 1.7 cm], the sepals brown, yellow towards the base and apex, petals yellow, lip yellow with brown overlay, column white, with wine-red dots at the apex, with lanceolate-elliptic sepals and lanceolate petals, 3- lobed lip, three times longer than wide, 1.4 x .48" [3.5 x 1.2 mm], with an oblong mid-lobe and reduced lateral lobes, bicallose lip, the calli elongate, laminar, high, with a drop-shaped hump in between. Epidendrum ancistronum with wide, ovate-elliptic leaves, 2 to 4.4" x 1 to 1.4" [5 to 11 x 2.5 to 3.5 cm], with sepals and petals green, marked and mottled with red-brown, lip and column cream-colored with red dots, the lip bicallose, with lateral lobes falcate, the mid-lobe trapezoid to sub-quadrate and with a reduced clinandrium. Epidendrum condorense Hágsater & L.Sánchez has 2 proportionately wider leaves, 2 to 3.2" x .4 to .8" [5.0 to 8.0 x 1.0 to 2.0 cm], lip as wide as it is long, .132" to .136" x .12 to .128" [3.3 to 3.4 x 3.0 to 3.1 mm], sepals are brown, petals and lip green. Epidendrum chondrochilum has 2 to 3 ovate-elliptic leaves .8 to 2.4" x .52 to 1.08" [2 to 6 x 1.3 to 2.7 cm], and the entire lip 1.92 to 2 x .96 to 1.4" [4.8 to 5.0 x 2.4 to 3.5 mm], without any lateral lobes." Hagsater etal 2019

SynonymsReferences W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1710 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 drawing/photo fide

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