Epidendrum excisum Lindl. 1844 GROUP Excisum SUBGROUP Excisum type
Photo by © Camilo Orjuela.
Plant in situ in Cundiamarca Colombia Closeup
Photos © by Jay Pfahl.
Photo by © Patricia Harding.
Common Name In Latin = torn out, cutout or castrated?
Flower Size 1 1/4" [3 cm]
Found from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia at eleavtions of 2150 to 3000 meters in cloud forests on steep rocky, grass and brush covered slopes as a large sized, cold growing, reedstem epiphyte or lithophyte with erect, leafy stems enveloped basally by a few, tubular, inflated, scarious sheaths and carrying several, ligulate, emarginate, coriaceous, bilobed apically, conduplicate below, into the clasping base leaves that blooms throughout the year on a 11" [28 cm] long, massive, many flowered panicle arising from the apex of a mature stem and having a spathaceous bract.
"Epidendrum excisum Lindl. belongs to the GROUP Excisum SUBGROUP Excisum type which is characterized by the sympodial, caespitose habit, cane-like stems with numerous leaves, the inflorescence racemose or an open panicle with a few branches, the 1 to 2 large spathes at the base of the inflorescence, the 3-lobed lip and medium sized flowers. The species is recognized by the laterally flattened stems, an erect to arching, laxly-flowered, paniculate inflorescence with smaller, greenish yellow flowers, more or less tinged with copper. Epidendrum ferreyrae has tall stems, a prominent, conduplicate spathaceous bract, with similar, though somewhat smaller bracts subtending the branches of the inflorescence, the greenish flowers, with the outer tepals more or less purple, the oblanceolate, subacute petals, and the 3-lobed lip with an entire margin, the lateral lobes dolabriform, and the much smaller midlobe, subtriangular, reminiscent of the unrelated Costarican E. storkii Ames. It is very similar to E. lesteri Hágsater & Dodson which has lanceolate, acute, dark green leaves with the underside reddish, the pink-colored, obtuse spathe, the nutant, dense- ly flowered inflorescence branching near the base into several similar racemes, and the green, pale burguny-red tinged flowers; the petals linear, the lateral lobes of the lip subreniform, midlobe rectangular, the apex truncate, somewhat bilobed, short-apiculate. It closely resembles Epidendrum orthoclinium Hágsater & Dodson which has narrower leaves, a more lax-flowered inflorescence smaller greenish yellow flowers with acute petals, with the clinandrium hood upturned, with the margin erose. Epidendrum tenuispathum C.Schweinf. has a somewhat similar habit, with an erect, paniculate inflorescence, and the lip wider than long." adapted from Plate 936 Hagsater etal 2007
Synonyms Epidendrum excisum var. grandiflorum Lindl. 1844
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 7: 246 Schlechter 1920; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 27: 66 Colombia Schlechter 1924; Orchids of Peru Vol 2 Fieldiana Schweinfurth 1959; Venezuelan Orchids Illlustrated Vol 5 Dunsterville & Garay 1966 drawing fide; Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 3 1970 drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 468 Dodson 1989 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 2 Plate 111 Hagsater 1993 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 2 Plate 194 Hagsater 1993 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum Plate 458 Bennett & Christenson 1998 drawing ok; Icones Orchidacearum 3 Plate 336 Hagsater 1999 see recognition section; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 1 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 4 Plate 454 Hagsater 2001 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 4 Plate 466 Hagsater 2001 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 4 Plate 485 Hagsater 2001 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 4 Plate 494 Hagsater 2001 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 4 Plate 496 Hagsater 2001 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 4 Plate 500 Hagsater 2001 see recognition section; Orquideas Nativas del Tachira Cesar Fernandez 2003 photo fide; Machu Picchu Orchids Christenson 2003; Orchids of Bolivia Vol 2 Laelinae Vasquez and Ibisch 2004 drawing fide; ; Icones Orchidacearum 7 Plate 754 Hagsater 2004 see recognition section; Orquideologia 24: 3 Ortiz & Hagsater 2005; Icones Orchidacearum 9 Plate 936 Hagsater 2007 see recognition section; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide; An Illustrated Field Guide to the Orchids of the Yotoco Forest Reserve Colombia Kolanowska, Escobar, Sanchez & Szlachetko 2011 drawing fide; Orchids of the Department of Valle De Cauca Colombia Vol 2 Kolanowska, Hagsater etal. 2014 drawing good; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 drawing/Photo fide;
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