Epidendrum chiguindense Hágsater & Dodson 2004 GROUP Amblostoma SUBGROUP Amblostomioides

TYPE Drawing by © Lopez and The AMO Herbaria Website

LATE EARLIER

Common Name The Chiguinda Epidendrum [A town in Ecuador near where the type was collected]

Flower Size .4" [1 cm]

Found in southern Ecuador on the eastern slope of the Andes at elevations around 1600 meters as a small sized, cool growing epiphyte with simple, cane-like, laterally compressed above, somewhat sinuous, short stems carrying 2 to 3, near the apex of the stem, the basal one much smaller, oblong-elliptic, rounded apically, evident dorsal keel, thickly coriaceous, smooth, green, margin entire leaves that blooms in the late summer and earlier fall on a terminal, racemose, occuring only once, arising through a tubular, ancipitose, parallel sided, acute spathe, arching-nutant, rat-tail like, peduncle elongate, to 2.8" [7 cm] long, terete, thin, smooth, with a bract similar to the spathe, rachis to 4.8" [12 cm] long, terete, thin, straight, opening from the apex towards the base, successively to 40 flowered inflorescence with as long as the ovary, triangular, acute floral bracts and carrying resupinate, green, concolor flowers held in a helicoidal patttern throughout the rachis.

"Epidendrum chiguindense appears to belong to the GROUP Amblostoma SUBGROUP Amblostomioides which is characterized by the caespitose habit, short, unbranched, laterally compressed stems, thick, coriaceous leaves, and the long, arching, nutant, rat-tail-like inflorescence with a long, narrow spathaceous bract at the base, and the numerous, green, successive flowers. The new species is recognized by the green flowers which open from the apex of the inflorescence towards the base, the triangular, cordate lip with a prominent, fleshy, striated, "V" shaped callus. Vegetatively it is similar to Epidendrum carolii which has relatively short, ovate leaves and the yellow and brown flowers of that species open from the base of the rachis towards the apex, and the lip is ecallose, large and deeply reniform. Epidendrum laucheanum Rolfe has much longer, lanceolate leaves, a very long inflorescence with numerous green and brown flowers with an ecallose, reniform lip. Epidendrum opiranthizon Hágsater & Dodson shares the rare feature of the flowers opening from the end of the inflorescence towards the base, but that species does not have any spathaceous bract, the column is longer and thin at the base, and the lip is obscurely 3-lobed with 3 prominent, laminar keels at the base." Hagsater etal 2004

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Icones Orchidacearum7 Plate 772 Hágsater & Sanchez Sald. 2004 Drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum Vol 8 Plate 863 Hagsater & Sanchez 2006 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 18(1) plate 1820 2020 see recognition section

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