Epidendrum elcimeyae Hágsater & García-Cruz 1999 GROUP Ramosum SUBGROUP Rugosum

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

Part shade Warm CoolFall

Common Name Elcimey's Epidendrum [Elcimey Baldizon, Costa Rican Orchid Enthusiast current]

Flower Size .6" [1.5 cm]

Found in Costa Rica and Panama on the Atlantic slope and lowlands at elevations up to 1300 meters as a miniature to small sized, warm to cool growing epiphtye with a branched, flexuous, ancipitose stem carrying numerous, all along the stem, coriaceous, narrowly lanceolate, bilobed apically, rugose, articulate below into the base leaves that blooms in the fall on a terminal, from both the main stem and the branches, racemose, peduncle ancipitose, rachis filiform, 2 to 3 flowered inflorescence with longer than the ovary, ovate, acute, conduplicate, papiraceous floral bracts and carrying complanate, alternate, non-resupinate yellowish green flowers.

The branching habit without a clearly defined, principal stem in adult plants, the ancipitous stems, the leaves that are less than .8" [2 cm] long, the inflorescence with the filiform rachis carrying 2 to 3 flowers with a triangular-cordiform lip with a tridentate callus separate this species form others.

"Epidendrum elcimeyae is part of GROUP Ramosum SUBGROUP Rugosum characterized by the monopodial, branching stems, the spike-like, distichous inflorescence, and the single callus, and the SUBGROUP Rugosum which has a branching habit with few-flowered inflorescence from short, secondary stems, the leaf-sheaths rugose. The species has a branching habit, without an obvious main stem in large, adult plants, the stems are ancipitious, very flat, leaves are less than .8" [20 mm] long, especially on the main stem, and it has a 2 to 3 flowered inflorescence with the rachis filiform, the acute, triangular-cordiform lip with a tridentate callus. It is easily confused with its sister species, E. microdendron which is distinguished by its long acuminate lip, and the longer leaves, those of the main stem being over 1 to 1.4" [25 to 35 mm] long. The plant is similar in size and shape to that of E. cordiforme C. Schweinf., but that species has terete stems and differently shaped floral segments, the petals and lip being wider. Epidendrum microdendron is the more common species, from higher altitude, being found mainly at 2000 to 3100 meters. Epidendrum chirripoense Hágsater is similar but is larger in every way, the leaves of the main stem 1.8" [45 mm] long, the lip being triangular, cordate and acute but ecallose." Hagsater etal 1993

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Orchidacearum 3 Plate 329 Hagsater 1999 drawing fide; Manual de las Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003; Icones Orchidacearum Vol 9 Plate 907 Hagsater & Sanchez 2007 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 9 Plate 922 Hagsater 2007 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 9 Plate 978 Hagsater 2007 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 11 Plate 1143 Hagsater 2008 see recognition section;

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