Epidendrum compressum Griseb. 1864 GROUP Compressum
Photo courtesy of Ecuagenera and theirOrchid Website
Photo by © Carlos Hajek and his Peruvian Orchid Page
Photo by © Patricia Harding
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Common Name The Compressed Epidendrum
Flower Size 2/5" [1 cm]
Found in Trinidad, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil in wet montane forests as a small sized, hot to cool growing epiphyte at elevations around 50 to 1700 meters with basally terete, dilated and compressed above stems enveloped completely by close, imbricate, conduplicate sheaths that are articulated and leaf bearing towards the apex carrying 3 to 4 elliptic, basally conduplicate, acute-acuminate leaves that orient to the same plane and blooms in nature in the fall and winter on a terminal, erect then arching, 8 to 16" long, laxly paniculate, several flowered inflorescence arising on a mature stem and having 3 close, triangular bracts that diminish in size and minute floral bracts.
"Epidendrum compressum belongs to the GROUP Compressum, characterized by the caespitose habit, simple cane-like, laterally compressed stems, the few leaves along the stem (1 to 5 leaves), the large lax flowered panicle, the lip deeply 3-lobed, the lobes parallel to and surrounding the column in natural position. The species is easily recognized by the simple, cane-like, short 1.84 to 4.4" [4.6 to 11 cm] long, laterally compressed stems with 3 to 5 leaves, elliptic-oblong, the large paniculate, laxly-flowered inflorescence, arcuate, the peduncle laterally compressed, covered with imbricated, e bracts, with resupinate, simultaneous, greenish to ochre-reddish flowers, the sepals.32 to .4" [8 to 10 mm] long, and the column .116 to .12" [2.9 to 3.0 mm] long. The plant habit is reminiscent of Epidendrum compressibulbum D.E.Benn. & Christenson, from the foot of the Andes in central Peru and central Ecuador, which also has very flat, ancipitose stems, but it has a crowded paniculate, many-flowered inflorescence, and a deeply cordate, convex cordiform lip, pale green in color." Hagsater etal 2021
Synonyms Epidendrum guentherianum Kraenzl. 1928; Epidendrum laxum Poepp. & Endl. 1837-38; Epidendrum laxum var. mocoanum Schltr.1924; Epidendrum macrothyrsis F. Lehm. & Kraenzl. 1899; Epidendrum yatapuense Barb. Rodr. 1891; Minicolumna laxa Brieger 1976 ; Minicolumna yatapuensis (Barb.Rodr.) Brieger 1976
ReferencesW3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 27: 62 Colombia Schlechter 1924 as E laxum var mocoanum; Orchids of Peru Vol 2 Schweinfurth 1959 as E yatapuense; Native Orchids of Trinidad Schultes 1960; Native Orchids of Trinidad Schultes 1960 as E yatapuense; Venezuelan Orchids Vol 2 Dunsterville & Garay 1961 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 36 #9 1967; Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 3 1970 drawing fide; Fieldiana Biology, Vol 33, 1st Supple. to the Orchids of Peru Schweinfurth 1970; Orchidaceae Brasilense Band 1 Pabst & Dungs 1975 drawing hmm; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 8 449 - 512 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1976 as Minicolumna laxa photo fide; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 8 449 - 512 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1976 as Minicolumna yatapuensis drawing/photo ok; Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 529 Dodson 1982 drawing fide; The Orchids of Surinam Werkhoven 1986; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Series II Orchids of Peru Plate 0060 Dodson & Bennett 1989 drawing fide; Inventaire Taxominique des Plantes de la Guyane Francaise Vol II Les Orchidaceaes Cremers and Hoff 1992; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 5 COS 1994 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum plate 456 Bennett & Christenson 1998 drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 1 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 2 Dodson 2001 drawing fide; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003; Orchids of Bolivia Vol 2 Laelinae Vasquez and Ibisch 2004 drawing/ photo fide; Las Orquideas del Peru Izerskyy & Bezverhov 2011 photo fide; Orquideas de Roirama Luz & Franco 2012 photo fide; Orchids of French Guiana Szlachetko, Veyret, etal 2012 drawing/photo fide; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 drawing good; Icones Orchidacearum 18(2) Plate 1861 & 1861a Hagsater & Jimenez 2021 drawing/photo fide
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