Epidendrum esmeraldense Hágsater, H.Medina & E.Santiago 2013 GROUP Pseudepidendrum SUBGROUP Turialvae
TYPE Photo by © H Medina/TYPE Drawing by Jimenenz and The AMO Herbaria Website
EARLY
Common Name The Esmeraldas Epidendrum [A province of northern Ecuador]
Flower Size .4" [1 cm]
Found in northern Ecuador in very wet, montane forests at elevations around 1200 meters as a small sized, cool growing epiphyte with simple, cane-like, terete, thin, erect, straight stems basally enveloped by tubular, nonfoliar, scarious sheaths and carrying 9, coriaceous, erect-spreading, alternate, articulate tinged purple, unequal in size, basally smaller, elliptic-lanceolate, short-acuminate, margin entire, spreading leaves that blooms in the early winter on a terminal, erect, racemose, producing new racemes from the same peduncle for several years, peduncle to 4.4" [11 cm] long, thin, laterally compressed, erect, straight, provided with 4, tubular, ancipitous, acute bracts, rachis .6" [1.5 cm] long, 5" [12.5 cm] long overall, densely aggregated towards the apex, simultaneously 8 flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary, narrowly triangular-lanceolate, acuminate, amplexicaul floral bracts and carrying showy, glabrous flowers with the tepals ochre green, the column green along the basal half, white towards the apex, the calli and ribs of the disc whitish, the rest of the lip magenta.
"Epidendrum esmeraldense belongs to the GROUP Pseudepidendrum which is characterized by caespitose plants, canelike stems, acute to acuminate leaves, usually apical inflorescence, the mostly filiform petals and the lip usually 3-lobed (with 3 parallel fleshy keels), the apical lobe often bifurcate, the “bird-wing” type pollinia, at least the inner pair, and SUBGROUP Turialvae which has a racemose and few-flowered inflorescence on an elongate peduncle, usually producing new racemes over the years and thus pluriracemose, the rachis very short, and thus compact flowered. The species is recognized by the purple, elliptic-lanceolate leaves, the elongate inflorescence and very short rachis, with 8 simultaneous flowers aggregate at the apex, peduncle covered by 4 tubular, ancipitose bracts, the flowers greenish-brown with the lip “magenta” with the calli and ribs whitish; lateral lobes of the lip dolabriform. Epidendrum rodrigoi Hágsater from northern Colombia, has taller plants, to 28" [to 70 cm] tall, olive-green flowers with the lip pink; the midlobe of the lip forms a pair of oblong-falcate, rounded lobes. Epidendrum turialvae Rchb.f. has longer, linear-lanceolate leaves 2.8 to 7.4" [7 to 18.5 cm] long, purple-brown flowers, the lip green, hyaline, translucent, the disc often with an irregular solid purple splotch." Hagsater etal 2013
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Orchidacearum 14 Plate 1427 Hagsater, H. Medina & Santiago 2013 photo/drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 15 [1] Plate 1567 Hagsater & Sanchez 2015 see recognition section; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 Photo fide;
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