Epidendrum chalcochromum Hágsater 2006 GROUP Oerstedella SUBGROUP Intermixtum

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

LATE EARLIER

Common Name The Copper Colored Epidendrum

Flower Size 1/2" [1.25 cm]

Found in Costa Rica in cloud forests at elevations around 1800 to 1900 meters as a medium sized, cool growing epiphyte with cane-like, simple, terete, thin, erect stem carrying numerous, all along the apical half of the stem, alternate, subcoriaceous, elliptic-lanceolate, subacute, unequally bilobed leaves that blooms in the late spring through earlier fall on a terminal, paniculate, 5.6" [ 14 cm] long and lateral, racemose, 1.6 to 3.6" [4 to 9 cm] long, peduncle terete, thin, ebracteate, simultaneously 4 to 10 flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary, triangular, acute, clasping floral bracts and carrying resupinate flowers with the tepals reddish brown on olive green, the column and lip somewhat red and the callus yellow.

"Epidendrum chalcochromum belongs to the GROUP Oerstedella which is characterized by the sympodial habit, mostly verrucose stems, and the rostellum which is transverse to the column instead of parallel, forming a wide, open sinus, SUBGROUP Intermixtum which has small membranaceous flowers with a petaloid, usually bifid clinandrium-hood, and obovoid, laterally compressed pollinia with long, granulose caudicles. The new species is recognized by the long lateral inflorescences, 1.6 to 3.8" [4 to 9.5 cm] long, the 3-lobed lip with the midlobe entire and similar in size to the lateral lobes, the flowers reddish brown on olive-green, and the clinandrium-hood entire. It is very similar to Epidendrum intermixtum which is nearly identical, but the flowers are a clear pale green, with the clinandrium-hood bifid, deeply cleft; the shorter lateral inflorescences .4 to 2" [1 to 5 cm] long. In Panama there are several species with a 3-lobed lip where the midlobe is entire, and produce apical and lateral inflorescences: E. folsomii, E. fortunae Hágsater & Dressler and E. fuscinum (Dressler) Hagsater." Hagsater etal 2006

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Icones Orchidacearum 8 Plate 818 Hagsater & Sanchez 2006 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum Vol 8 Plate 832 Hagsater & Sanchez 2006 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum Vol 8 Plate 845 Hagsater & Sanchez 2006 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 9 Plate 939 Hagsater 2007 see recognition section;

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------