Epidendrum folsomii Hágsater & E.Santiago 2006 GROUP Oerstedella SUBGROUP Intermixtum

Drawing by © M Lopez R and The AMO Herbaria Website

MID

Common Name Folsom's Epidendrum [American botanist and Dichaea specialist current]

Flower Size .8" [2 cm]

Found in Cocle province of Panama on the intercontinental divide in cloud forests at elevations of 600 to 800 meters as a small to medium sized, warm growing epiphyte or terrestrial on roadsides with simple, cane-like, terete, erect stems carrying 7 to 14 all along the stem, lanceolate, unequally bilobed, margin entire leaves that blooms in the summer through mid fall on a terminal and lateral, erect, the apical one paniculate, the lateral one racemose, peduncle, terete, thin, simultaneously 4 to 7 flowered per inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary, triangular, acute floral bracts and carrying resupinate flowers with the tepals olive green to greenish yellow, lip white to yellowish, and a white column.

" Epidendrum folsomii belongs to the GROUP Oerstedella which is characterized by the sympodial habit, mostly verrucose stems, and the rostellum which is transverse to the column instead of parallel, forming a wide open sinus, and SUBGROUP Intermixtum which has small, membranaceous flowers with a petalold clinandrium-hood, and obovoid, laterally compressed pollinia with granulose caudicles. The species has a relatively long clinandrium-hood with slightly divergent lobes and a three-lobed lip with the lobes subequal and simple, the narrow lateral lobes inserted at 45°, it has small flowers, is found at elevations of 600 to 800 meters around El Copé, and flowers in July to October, compared with E. fuscinum (Dressler) Hágsater which flowers in March to April has larger, pale green flowers (sepals .52 to .6" [13 to 15 mm] long, and the lateral 1obes of the lip are inserted at a 90° angle. Epidendrum fortunae Hágsater & Dressler flowers in February-March (rarely June) and is found in the area of Cerro Fortuna in western Chiriquí, has wide, cuneate petals and wide lateral lobes of the lip. Epidendrum intermixtum Ames & C.Schweinf. is restricted to central western Costa Rica and has light green sepals and petals, a white lip and yellow callus, the three lobes of the lip are subequal, and the midlobe is more or less square and the clinandrium-hood bifid. Epidenarum chacochronum Hágsater is very similar to E. intermixtum but has longer inflorescences, brown sepals and petals with a lighter lip, and an entire, truncate clinandrium-hood with the margin erose." Hagsater etal 2006

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Icones Orchidacearum 8 Plate 818 Hagsater and Sanchez 2006 see recognition section; * Icones Orchidacearum 8 Plate 833 Hagsater & Santiago 2006 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 9 Plate 939 Hagsater 2007 see recognition section;

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