Epidendrum cleistocoleum Hágsater & E.Santiago 2004 GROUP Diothonea SUBGROUP Diothonea
photo by © Eric Hagsater
photo by © David Haelterman and his Flickr Orchid Photo Website
TYPE Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website
THROUGH
Common Name or Meaning The Closed Vagina Epidendrum [refers to the long narrow slit on the ventral side of the column]
Flower Size .8" [2 cm]
Found in west central Colombia on both the Cordillera central and Occidental at elevations of 2000 to 2700 meters as a small sized, cold growing epiphyte with branching near the apex, cane-like, terete stems carrying 8 to 12, all along the stem, narrowly lanceolate, minutely bilobed, dorsally keeled, somewhat revolute leaves that blooms in the fall through spring on a terminal, from the main stem and branches, racemose, nutant, arching, simultaneously 5 to 9 flowered inflorescence without a spathe, and shorter than the ovary, triangular, acuminate floral bracts and carrying resupinate flowers with sepals that are greenish brown witrh red dots, petals that are reddish and a dark red to purple lip with the veins tinged red.
"Epidendrum cleistocoleum belongs to the GROUP Diothonea SUBGROUP Diothonea which is characterized by the branching habit, linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, apically bilobed leaves, arching-nutant, racemose inflorescence, membranaceous or rarely fleshy flowers, the lip entire to 3-lobed, with an erose margin, ecallose, with or without 1 to 10 thin, smooth to erose keels, the column united to the lip from totally to obliquely to free. The species has small plants, a short, few-flowered inflorescence, lip is .48 to .56" [12 to 14 mm] wide, entire, widely obovate, orbicular, apically 4-lobed, the lobes rounded, the central pair slightly longer than the lateral pair, base cuneate, 5 prominent keels, column nearly free, with the basal wings rounded, the apex of the column rounded, without acute teeth, and a cavity in the lower half of the column, to which there is access by a narrow slit. It closely resembles Epidendrum cottoniiflorum which has taller plants, the inflorescence has 12 to 14 flowers which are smaller, the sepals narrowly elliptic, the lip is .32 to .4" [8 to 10 mm] wide, narrowly cuneate at the base and united up to half the column; the base of the column is strongly arched in the bottom half forming a prominent dorsal hump, the ventral side is straight, not forming large, rounded lobes. Epidendrum gastrochilum Kraenzlin has the column upturned at the apex, and joined throughout to the lip, it also has a short narrow slit giving access to the cavity at the base of the column, and the lip is entire, orbicular. Epidendrum arevaloides Hágsater & Dodson has wider narrowly ovate petals, .96 to 1.2" [2.4 to 3.0 mm wide, the lip ovate to suborbicular with the surface strongly ornamented with ancistrous trichomes, the column is thin, straight and free." Hagsater etal 2004
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Icones Orchidaceaeum 7 Plate 726 Hagsater & Sanchez 2004 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 7 Plate 742 Hagsater and Sanchez 2004 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 7 Plate 799 Hagsater and Sanchez 2004 see recognition section; Orquideologia VOl 24 #2 2005 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 8 Plate 805 Hagsater and Sanchez 2006 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 8 Plate 809 Hagsater and Sanchez 2006 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 8 Plate 819 Hagsater and Sanchez 2006 see recognition section; Orchids of the Department of Valle De Cauca Colombia Vol 2 Kolanowska, Hagsater etal. 2014 drawing/photo fide
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