Epidendrum jejunum Rchb. f. 1878 GROUP Difforme

Photo by © Eric Hunt

Drawing

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

Common Name The ? Epidendrum

Flower Size .6" [1.5 cm]

Found in Colombia and Ecuador in swamps, beach vegetation and lower wet montane forests at elevations of sealevel to 1250 meters as a small to just medium sized, hot to cool growing epiphyte with cane-like, laterally compressed, slightly fractifex stems enveloped completely by tubular leaf bearing sheaths carrying a few, linear, basally clasping, acute leaves that blooms at most any time of the year on a terminal, very short, erect, successive flowering inflorescence carrying 1 to 5, resupinate flowers.

Many references cite E dentiferum with light green flowers, linear petals and a sub-orbicular lip, as a synonym of E jejunum but it has white flowers with rhombic to oblanceolate petals and a cordiform lip.

"Epidendrum jejunum belongs to the GROUP Difforme which is characterized by the caespitose, sympodial plants, fleshy, pale green to glaucous leaves, apical inflorescence, sessile, rarely with a short peduncle, one-flowered to corymbose, without spathaceous bracts, fleshy, green to yellowish-green rarely white flowers. The species has lateraly compressed stems, elliptic to ligulate leaves, 1 to 5 succesive, white to white-greenish flowers, a cordiform lip, and deeply dentate clinandrium-hood. It is similar to Epidendrum dentiferum Ames & C.Schweinf., but that species has light green flowers, linear petals and a sub-orbicular lip. Epidendrum stellidifforme Hágsater & Dodson grows at elevations of 1200 to 1500 meters, has larger plants and flowers, lanceolate petals, and a sub-orbicular-cordiform lip with an acuminate apex. The species is, at first sight, superficially reminiscent of Epidendrum cuatrecasasii Garay; however that species has both apical and lateral inflorescences with successive bracts on the inflorescence tipical of the GROUP Alberti SUBGROUP Albertii , has a triquetrous ovary; the type only has an apical inflorescence which probably led the author to later reduced it to synonymy of E. jejunum." Hagsater etal 2009

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Otia Botanica Hamburgensia Rchb.f 1878; The Genus Epidendrum Ames 1936 as Epidendrum dentiferum; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 086 Dodson 1980 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 4 Plate 487 Hagsater 2001 see recognition section; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 2 Dodson 2001 drawing fide; Orquideas de la Serrania del Baudo Misas Urreta 2005 drawing/photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum Vol 8 Plate 824 Hagsater & Sanchez 2006 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 9 Plate 928 Hagsater 2007 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 9 Plate 941 Hagsater 2007 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum Part 12 Plate 1256 Hagsater 2009 drawing fide; Orchids of the Darien Gap Kolanowska 2014 drawing fide; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 Photo fide;

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