Epidendrum cuencanum Schltr. 1921 GROUP Geminiflorum
Photo by © Eric Hagsater/Drawing by R Jimenez M. and AMO Herbario Website
TYPE Drawing by © Schlechter
LATER
Common Name The Cuenca Epidendrum [A town in Ecuador near where the type was collected]
Flower Size 1.6" [4 cm]
Found in Azuay province of Ecuador at elevations of 1000 to 2570 meters as a small sized, cool to cold growing epiphyte with simple, erect, cane-like, produced from a lower internode of the previous stem, terete at base, somewhat laterally compressed towards the apex, somewhat flexuous stems with the base covered by sheaths .8 to 1.2" [2 to 3 cm] long, tubular, non-foliar, scarious and becoming fibrous with age, carrying 3 to 5 , lax, erect-spreading to sub spreading, oblong, obtuse, fleshy-coriaceous, apex unequally bilobed, margin entire, spreading leaves with tubular, infundibuliform when dry, minutely striated leaf sheaths that blooms in the later spring on a terminal, erect, arising through a single, obtuse, oblong, tubular at base, conduplicate towards the obtuse apex, membranaceous, margin entire spathe that exceeds the peduncle in length, peduncle .56" [1.4 cm] long, , rachis .4" [10 mm] long, simultaneously 2 to 5 flowered inflorescence with narrowly triangular, acute, embracing,much shorter than the ovary floral bracts and carrying fleshy, erect, greenish white, non-resupinate flowers with fragrance not registered.
"Epidendrum cuencanum Schltr. belongs to GROUP Geminiflorum , characterized by the single, sympodial, scandent, straggling habit, semi-ovate spathe, the erect stems with 3 to 10 coriaceous leaves, and few non-resupinate flowers, the lip with laminar calli, disc flat. The species is recognized by the widely 4 to 5 elliptic leaves 1.8 to 3.6" x .6 to 1.76" [4.5 to 9.0 x 1.5 to 4.3 cm], inflorescence 2.8" [7 cm] long including the 3 to 5, greenish white flowers, sepals .86 x 2.52" [21.5 x 6.3 cm], petals .8 x .08" [20 x 2 mm], linear, and the lip .52 x .5" [13 x 12.5 mm], cordiform and acute. Epidendrum azuayense Hágsater & E.Santiago has leaves .4 to 2" x .32 to .6" [1.0 to 5.0 x 0.8 to 1.5 cm], much narrower, oblong-elliptic, inflorescence 2.2" [5.5 cm] long, with 2 orange flowers, column green, sepals .52 to .72" x .02 .24" [13 to 18 x 5.0 to 6.0 mm]; petals .48 to .64" x .2 to .24" [12 to 16 x 5.0 to 6.0 mm], oblanceolate and oblique, lip .32 to .36 x .44" [8.0 to 9.0 x 11.0 mm], widely cordiform and obtuse. Epidendrum philocremnum has two flowers, sepals .48 to .6" [12 to 15 mm] long, and prominent, suborbicular lateral lobes of the lip. Epidendrum megagastrium Lindl. has leaves 1.2 t o2" x .72 to .92" [3.0 to 5.0 x 1.8 to 2.3 cm], elliptic, a 3-flowered inflorescence, sepals .84 x 3.04" [20.5 x 7.6 mm], petals .74 x .188" [18.5 x 4.7 mm], oblong-elliptic, and lip .456 x .4 [11.4 x 10 mm], narrowly cordiform, obtuse. Epidendrum geminiflorum Kunth has 2 to 4 larger flowers, sepals .6 to .8" [15 to 20 mm] long, acuminate sepals, petals and the lip with incipient, rounded lateral lobes. Epidendrum stevensonii Hágsater & Dodson has 5 to 10 simultaneous flowers, with .72" [18 mm] long sepals, a spade-like lip without lateral lobes and is always epiphytic. Epidendrum rotundifolium Hágsater & Dodson has suborbicular to elliptic leaves, sepals .6" [15 mm] long and very narrow petals, the lip is excavated, Malaxis-like; it is restricted to the lower mountains at the foot of the western Andes on the border between Ecuador and Peru." Adapted from E philocremnum Icones Plate 470 Hagsater etal 2001 and Plate 1716 Hagsater etal 2019
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 8: 70 Ecuador Schlechter 1921; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 57: 339 Figuren Atlas 1929 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 4 Plate 470 Hagsater 2001 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1706 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1716 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 Drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1739 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1746 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 17(2) Plate 1768 Hagsater & Jimenez 2020 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 18(1) plate 1843 Hagsater, Santiago and Medina 2020 see recognitoon section
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