Epidendrum cleistogastrium Hágsater & Dodson 2001 GROUP Geminiflorum SUBGROUP Cleistogastrium

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

LATER EARLIER

Common Name The Closed Belly Epidendrum [refers to the closed flowers with an excavate disc of the lip which is not papillate which is very unusual]

Flower Size .2" [5 mm]

Found southern Colombia and northern Ecuador at elevations around 1900 meters as a mini-miniature sized, cool growing epiphyte with somewhat flattened, thickened, fleshy, the new stem arising from the middle of the previous stem carrying 4 to 8, unequal, all along the stem, green, articulate, elliptic-ovate, bilobed apically leaves that blooms in the later summer and earlier fall on a terminal, occuring only once, on a mature stem, racemose, short peduncle enveloped by the spathe, 1 to 2 flowered inflorescence arising through a conduplicate, narrowly obovate, obtuse spathe with much shorter than the ovary, narrowly triangular, acuminate floral bracts and carrying non-resupinate flowers with yellow flowers that are cleistogamous to partly open.

"Epidendrum cleistogastrium belongs to the GROUP Geminiflorum SUBGROUP Cleistogastrium characterized by the sympodial habit, with new stems arising from the middle node of the previous one, a prominent round to ovate spathe, few non-resupinate flowers and a papillate, excavated disc of the lip. The species is identified by the yellow, cleistogamous flowers, and the shape of the lip, which is three-lobed and cuneate, with the lateral lobes semiobovate. Epidendrum amplexigastrium Hágsater & Dodson is very similar but the flowers are copper-colored, and wide open, the sepals being 7-veined. Epidendrum marsupiale has a lip similar in both shape and size but the lateral lobes are separated by deep sinuses and spreading in front of the column instead of embracing it and overlapping. Epidendrum megagastrium has a triangular, cordate, entire lip and the sides do not cover the apex of the column." Hagsater etal 1999

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Icones Orchidacearum 4 Plate 428 Hagsater 1999 drawing fide; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 drrawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 16(1) plate 1687 Hagsater etal 2018 in recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1742 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 see recognition section

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