Epidendrum deltogastropodium Hágsater & E.Santiago 2004 GROUP Diothonea SUBGROUP Gastropodium

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

LATER

Common Name The Triangular Foot Epidendrum [refers to the triangular shape at the base of the lip]

Flower Size .6" [1.5 cm]

Found in Colombia and Ecuador on embankments at elevations of 3070 to 3200 meters as a small to medium sized, cold growing terrestrial with branching near the apex, cane-like, terete, straight, thin stems with the main stem longer than the branches and carrying about ten, with 4 to 8 on the branches, all along the apical half, coriaceous, lanceolate, unequally bilobed, with a low dorsal keel, smooth, margin entire leaves that blooms in the summer on a terminal, short, thick, terete, thin, racemose, nutant, .32 to .4" [.8 to 1 cm] long including the very short peduncle, dense, simultaneously 10 to 15 flowered inflorescence that occurs only once, and has much shorter than the ovary, narrowly lanceolate, long-acuminate floral bracts and carrying pink colored flowers.

" Epidendrum deltogastropodium belongs to the GROUP Diothonea SUBGROUP Gastropodium, characterized by the branching habit, linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, 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 subgroup has small, usually brightly colored flowers, the column ending in fleshy-thickened, lobes. The new species has small, acute floral segments, the sepals .152 to .232" [3.8 to 5.8 mm] long and the triangular-subcordiform lip is truncate at the base and provided with a prominent, "V" shaped, triangular cushion. It is similar to Epidendrum gastropodium which has .24 to .3" [6 to 7.5 mm] long sepals, and the deeply cordate lip has a transverse cushion ending in three short keels. Epidendrum eugenii Schltr. has .212 to .228" [5.3 to 5.7 mm] long sepals and the lip has no cushion but three long, parallel, low keels. Epidendrum melanogastropodium Hágsater & Dodson has wide, rounded floral segments, the sepals .22 to .26" [5.5 to 6.5 mm] long and the lip provided with a transversely elliptic, massive, truncate cushion. Epidendrum mesogastropodium Hágsater & Dodson has acute floral segments, the sepals .2 to .224" [5.0 to 5.6 mm] long, and the cordate lip provided with a fleshy, truncate, transversely elliptic cushion." Hagsater etal 2005

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Orchidaceaum 7 Plate 731 Hagsater & Sanchez 2004 drawing fide; Orquideologia Vol 24 #1 2005;

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