Epidendrum subumbellatum Hoffmanns. 1842 SECTION Difforme
Photo by © Adam Karremans
Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website
LATE
Common Name The Almost Umbellatum-Like Epidendrum
Flower Size 1.2" [3 cm]
Found in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guyana, Fr Guiana, Surinam and Brazil in lowland and mid-elevation tropical formations at elevations of sea-level to 1200 meters as a small to medium sized, hot to cool growing epiphyte with a terete, slightly flexuous stem carrying elliptic, obtuse to retuse, coriaceous, basally clasping leaves that blooms in the late spring and summer on an apical, subcorymbose, occuring only once, short, 5 to 20 flowered inflorescence and carrying flowers that have a nocturnal, yeasty smell.
"Epidendrum subumbellatum is part of SECTION Difforme characterized by the caespitose, sympodial plants, fleshy, pale green to glaucous leaves, apical inflorescence, sessile, rarely with a short peduncle, one-flowered to many-flowered, and then corymbose, without spathaceous bracts, fleshy, green to yellowish-green rarely white flowers. The species can be recognized by the terete stems, inflorescence with 5 to 20 or more, green to greenish-yellow flowers, with a nocturnal fragrance of leavened bread, lip 3-lobed with lateral lobes semi-orbicular, midlobe short and wide, deeply emarginate, forming two small, semi-orbicular lobes, clinandrium hood prominent, erose. It is similar to Epidendrum melistagum Hágsater which has laterally compressed stems, flowers with a strong rancid nocturnal fragrance, and the reniform lip with only one wide callus at the base and a drop of honey in front of it in fresh flowers. Epidendrum carnevalii Hágsater & L.Sánchez, endemic from Venezuela, has somewhat laterally compressed stems, prominent, divergent calli, emarginate midlobe with acute divaricate lobes and papillose ovary and column, erose-fimbriate clinandrium hood. Epidendrum citrosmum Hágsater endemic from Mexican Pacific Coastal Plain, in Jalisco, Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas has smaller plants, 3.2 to 8" [8-20 cm] long, 2 to 10 flowers, with nocturnal odor reminiscent to that of lemon tea (Cymbopogon citratus), clinandrium-hood reduced" Hagsater etal 2009
Synonyms Epidendrum chlorocorymbos Schltr.1922;
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 17:30. Panama Schlechter 1922 as E chlorocorymbos; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 9 513 - 576 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977 as E chlorocorymbos photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 2 Plate 106 Hagsater & Sanchez 1993 see recognition section as E chlorocorymbos; Icones Orchidacearum 2 Plate 129 Hagsater & Sanchez 1993 see recognition section as E chlorocorymbos; Icones Orchidacearum 2 Plate 182 Hagsater & Dodson 1993 see recognition section as E chlorocorymbos; Icones Orchidacearum 3 Plate 321 Hagsater & Sanchez 1999 see recognition section as E chlorocorymbos; Harvard Pap. Bot. 5 #2: Carnevali etal. 2001; Icones Orchidacearum 4 Plate 418 Hagsater 2001 see recognition section as E chlorocorymbos; Icones Orchidacearum 5-6 Plate 570 Hagsater & Soto 2002 as E chlorocorymbos drawing ok; Manual de las Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003; Vanishing Beauty, Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 1 Pupulin 2005 as E chlorocorymbos photo fide; Orchids of Mexico Hagsater, Soto, Salazar, Jimenez, Lopez and Dressler 2005 as E chlorocorymbos; Icones Orchidacearum 14 Plate 1412 Hagsater & Santiago 2013 as E chlorocorymbos See recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 11 Plate 1141 Hagsater 2008 as E chlorocorybos see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum Part 12 Plate 1223 Hagsater 2009 as E chlorocorymbos drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum Part 12 Plate 1258 Hagsater 2009 as E chlorocorymbos see recognition section; Orchids of Costa Rica Vol 3 Morales 2009 as E chlorocorymbos photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1393 Hasater & Salazar 2010 as E chlorocorymbos see recognition section; Guia de Orquideas de Chiapas Carlos Rommel Beutelspacher Baigts 2013 as Epidendrum chlorocorymbos photo fide; Orchids of the Darien Gap Kolanowska 2014 as E chlorocorymos drawing/photo fide; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 as E chlorocorybos photo fide; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018
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