Epidendrum diommum Hágsater & Chocce 2009 GROUP Ventricosum

TYPE Drawing by © Hagsater and The AMO Herbaria Website

Common Name The Two Eyed Epidendrum [refers to the two white calli of the lip]

Flower Size .8" [2 cm]

Found in northwestern Peru on the Cordillera Occidental at elevations around 3200 meters as a small sized, cold growing epiphyte with simple, thin, cane-like, suberect, terete, arising from the basal 1/4 of the previous stem and carrying 6, all along the upper 2/3's of the stem, articulate, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, obtuse, aristate, the apical margin crenulate, low dorsal keel, unequal in size, lowermost smaller, subcoriaceous, flat leaves that blooms in the winter on a terminal, on a mature growth, arising through a tubular, laterally compressed, linear-oblong, obtuse spathe that envelops completely the terete peduncle, occuring only once, racemose, arching, simultaneously 2 to 4 flowered inflorescence with triangular, much shorter than the ovary, obsolete floral bracts and carrying resupinate, magenta to wine-colored flowers with bright white calli on the lip.

"Epidendrum diommum belongs to the GROUP Ventricosum , characterized by the sympodial habit, few, narrow leaves, racemose inflorescence subtended by 1 to 2 narrow, spathaceous bracts, and the delicate, purple flowers with an inflated nectary on the underside of the column, the lip laminar and more or less cordate. The species is recognized by the subcaespitose habit, medium sized plants with terete stems, and magenta to wine-colored, non-translucent flowers with the calli bright white, the sepals .64 to .76" [15.5-19 mm] long, the lip .32 x .4" [8 x 10 mm], leaves 1.2 to 4.2" x .28 to .5" [3 to 10.5 x 0.7 to 1.3 cm]. It is close to Epidendrum leimebambense Hágsater, which grows south of Chachapoyas to southern Ecuador is similar, but the leaves are still wider, up to .68" [1.7 cm] wide, flowers smaller, sepals .56 to .64" [14 to 16 mm] long, pale green marked with purple, the lip cordiform, .32 x .44" [8 x 11 mm], and the calli are smaller and shorter. Epidendrum pachygastrium Kraenzl. has ancipitose stems, narrow spathaceous bract and racemose inflorescence with bright magenta colored, translucent flowers; the leaves are lanceolate, 1.2 to 3.2" x .24 to .4" [3 to 8 x 0.6 to 1.0 cm], and the lip is triangular, slightly wider than long and with two large, subglobose calli nearly half as long as the lip. Epidendrum ventricosum Lindl. is closely related and very similar, but has longer, narrower leaves 1.6 to 4.8" x .12 to .32" [4 to 12 x 0.3 to 0.8 cm], the lip is as wide as it is long, the calli are smaller, about ¼ the length of the lip; it is also found north of Chachapoyas, in the hills northwest of lake Pomacocha." Hagsater etal 2009

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Orchidacearum 12 Plate 1238 Hágsater & Chocce 2009 Drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1302 Hagsater 2010 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 18(2) Plate 1866 Hagsater & Jimenez 2021 see recognition section

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