Epidendrum ellemanniae Hágsater & Dodson 2001 GROUP Andean SUBGROUP Soratae

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

Partial shadeCold LATE Summer EARLYFall

Common Name or Meaning Ellemann's Epidendrum [Danish Orchid Collector and Botanist current]

Flower Size .4" [1 cm]

Found in Loja province of Ecuador at elevations around 3400 meters as a small sized, cold growing epiphyte with an thin, cane-like, terete, producing new stems from the apical nodes of the previous stems carrying 3 to 4, subcoriaceous, lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, acute, minutely apiculate, minutely papillose along the apical margined leaves that blooms in the late summer and early fall on a terminal, paniculate, erect, to .8 to 1.98" [2 to 4.8 cm] long including the terete, thin peduncle, filiform, straight rachis, simultaneously 3 to 5 flowered inflorescence with shorter than the ovary, triangular, acuminate, single veined floral bracts and carrying resupinate, pale purplish, cream flowers.

"Epidendrum ellemannii belongs to the GROUP Andean SUBGROUP Soratae, which is identified by the branching habit, acute leaves and infundibuliform sheaths and the short stems produced from the apical nodes of the previous stems, the species is recognized by the small flowers and the cordiform lip. Epidendrum cartilaginiflorum from Bolivia has larger flowers, the sepals .6 to .64" [15 to 16 mm] long, and the lip is narrowed beyond the middle, giving it a somewhat 3-lobed shape, the apex rounded, not apiculate. Epidendrum soratae has a reniform, emarginate lip, the sepals .24 to .28" [6 to 7 mm] long. Epidendrum cardenasii Hágsater has a bilobed, emarginate lip .4 x .48" [10 x 12 mm], with the sepals .48 to .52" [12 to 13 mm] long, the leaves .144 to .204" x .2 to .28" [3.6 to 5.1 x 0.5 to 0.7 cm].

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Orchidacearum 4 Plate 435 Hagsater 2001 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 7 Plate 792 Hagsater and Sanchez 2004 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 9 Plate 933 Hagsater 2007 see recognition section;

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