Epidendrum clowesii Bateman ex Lindl. 1844 GROUP Anceps SUBGROUP Polyanthum
Photo by © Gaudi Uribe Puebla and his Flickr Orchid Photo Website
Photo by © Weyman Bussey
Photo by © Noble Bashor
Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website
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Common Name Clowe's Epidendrum [English Orchid Enthusiast 1800's]
Flower Size less than 1" [less than 2.5 cm]
Found in Oaxaca and Chiapas states of Mexico south to Guatemala, and El Salvador on sunny slopes and ravine walls in tropical deciduous forests at elevations of 500 to 2100 meters as a medium to large sized, warm to cold growing epiphyte with cane-like, leafy stems carrying relatively broad, articulate to the stem, few to 12, oblong to oblanceolate, acute or subacute leaves that blooms in the fall through late winter on a terminal, often arching, to 12" [30 cm] long, simple or branched, few to several flowered inflorescence carrying slightly fragrant, simultaneously opening flowers.
"Epidendrum clowesii belongs to the GROUP Anceps , which is recognized by the simple stems, generally elongate, compound racemose inflorescence producing new successive racemes with time, fleshy flowers, filiform to narrowly spatulate petals, and the SUBGROUP Polyanthum which has elongate, not sub-corymbose racemes. The species is recognized by the laterally compressed stems, a smooth to verrucose ovary, olive-green flowers, the sepals sometimes tinged with brown, and the lip greenish white, sepals .32 to .36" [8 to 9 mm] long, glabrous, petals 1 to 3 veined, the lateral lobes of the lip sub-orbicular to elliptic, the margins entire to rarely somewhat undulate, mid-lobe oblong-rectangular, apex slit. Epidendrum chlorops Schltr., endemic to Mexico, grows along the Pacific slope in Sinaloa, Nayarit, Colima, Michoacán, México, Guerrero and Oaxaca states of Mexico, has larger flowers with sepals and petals .4 to .62" [10 to 15.5 mm] long, it has evident basal veins on the lateral lobes of the lip. The highly localized Epidendrum motozintlensis Hágsater & L. Sánchez has smaller flowers with sepals and petals .268 to .312" [6.8 to 7.8 mm] long), piliform petals, and the mid-lobe of the lip is short, transversely rectangular, with an apical sinus. The taller, more widespread Epidendrum polyanthum Lindl. is known from Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras; it has terete stems, an elongate inflorescence, orange-yellow flowers, the lateral lobes of the lip semi-ovate, with a small sinus in the margin, and the mid-lobe is oblong-quadrate, with the apex emarginate." Hagsater etal 2010
Synonyms Epidendrum chlorops Rchb. f. 1880; Epidendrum flavovirens Rchb. f. 1866; Epidendrum piestocaulos Schlechter 1918; Epidendrum viridifuscatum De Wild. 1904
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Genus Epidendrum Ames 1936; Ceiba Vol 5 No 1 L O Williams 1956; Ceiba Vol 5 No 1 L O Williams 1956 as E viridifuscum; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; Las Orquedias De El Salvador Vol 1 Hamer 1974 drawing/photo fide; Las Orquedias de El Salvador Vol 3 Hamer 1981 drawing fide; Flora Novo-Galaciana Vol 16 McVaugh 1985; Selbyana Vol 10 Orchids of Central America Hamer 1988 drawing fide; Guatemala Y Sus Orquideas Behar & Tinschert 1998 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum Vol 11 Plate 1146 Hagsater & Sanchez 2008 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 12 Plate 1209 Hagsater 2009 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1316 Hagsater & Santiago 2010 See recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1321 Hagsater 2010 drawing fide; Guia de Orquideas de Chiapas Carlos Rommel Beutelspacher Baigts 2013 photo fide; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018
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