Epidendrum geminiflorum Kunth 1816 GROUP Geminiflorum

Drawing

Photo by © R. Gelis/ Drawing by R Jimenez The AMO Herbario Website

EARLY EARLIER

Common Name The Twin-Flowered Epidendrum

Flower Size .8" [2 cm]

Found in Surinam, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru in montane cloud forests on steep embankments at elevations of 1800 to 3100 meters as a warm to cool growing epiphyte or a terrestrial with a short, simple, cane-like, new stem produced from a middle internode of the previous stem, base terete, somewhat laterally compressed towards the apex stem carrying in the upper half, 2 to 4, alternate, articulate, coriaceous but flexible; sheath tubular, somewhat infundibuliform towards the apex when dry, minutely striated; blade oblong, obtuse, slightly bilobed, margin entire, spreading leaves that blooms in the winter, spring, early summer or earlier fall on a terminal, arising through 1 to rarely 2, short, narrowly obovate-oblong, obtuse, conduplicate, pale green when young, brown as it ages, peduncle .6 to .96" [1.5 to 2.4 cm] long, totally hidden within the spathe, rachis very short, terete, thin, 2 to rarely 3 flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary, linear-triangular, acute, embracing floral bracts and carrying non-resupinate, green to greenish yellow, occasionally turning ochre yellow when mature; without fragrance flowers.

Many references cite this species as a synonym of the similar E marsupiale but it differs in the lack of acute side lobes to the lip instead of rounded and is also less acute and shorter at the apex.

"Epidendrum geminiflorum belongs to the GROUP Geminiflorum and is characterized by the sympodial habit, creeping rhizome, unbranched stem, 1 to 2 spathaceous bracts and a few-flowered inflorescence, the flowers non-resupinate, the disc of the lip with a pair of laminar calli. The species is recognized by the generally 2-flowered (rarely 3-flowered)) inflorescence, flowers green or greenish-yellow, sepals .56 to .84" [14 to 21 mm] long, acute and apiculate, with the margin revolute, petals .576" to .76" [14.4 to 19 mm] long, narrowly lanceolate when spread, lip canaliculate down the center in natural position, the margins then spreading, especially the lateral lobes, which are smaller than the mid-lobe. Epidendrum cajamaracae Schltr. [I have as a synonym of E geminiflorum] though vegetatively indistinguishable has wider sepals, obtuse apex, and the lateral lobes of the lip are nearly as long as the mid-lobe which is triangular-ovate, obtuse. Epidendrum stevensonii Hágsater & Dodson has the lip spade-like, the bottom half basically square and the apical half a right-angled triangle, the flowers are relatively numerous, 5 to 10 flowered. Epidendrum philocremnum Hágsater & Dodson has .52" [13 mm] long sepals, linear-elliptic petals and the lip three-lobed, the lateral lobes suborbicular; it is found on the eastern side of the Andes, on cliffs and steep roadsides, between Loja and Zamora. Epidendrum geminiochraceum Hágsater, E.Santiago & Medina Tr. has coriaceous, rigid leaves, inflorescence with up to 6 orange or ochre-orange flowers, sepals .92 to .96" [21 to 23 mm] long, longitudinally convex, the midlobe of the lip nearly as wide as it is long." Hagsater etal 2019

Synonyms Epidendrum cajamarcae Schltr. 1921

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Otia Botanica Hamburgensia Rchb.f 1878; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 7: 247 Schlechter 1920; Die Orchideen der Sudamerikanischen Kordillerenstaaten IV Peru Schlechter 1921 as E cajamarcae; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 9: 81 Schlechter 1922 as E cajamarcae; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 27: 67 Colombia Schlechter 1924; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. Figuren -Atlas 57: 459 Schlechter 1929 as E cajamarcae drawing fide; Orchids of Peru Vol 2 Fieldiana Schweinfurth 1959; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 5 Dunsterville & Garay 1972 drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela, an Illustrated Field Guide Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing fide; Icones Plantarum Tropicarum Plate 80 Dodson 1980 drawing fide; Miniature Orchids Northen 1980; The Orchids of Surinam Werkhoven 1986 as Epidendrum geminiflorum; Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 as E geminiflorum photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum Plate 050 Bennett & Christenson 1993 see comments as E cajamarcae and E geminiflorum; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 5 COS 1994 photo not = E marsupiale; Manual Of Orchids Stewart 1995; Icones Orchidacearum 3 Plate 394 Hagsater 1999 see recognition section as E geminiflorum; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 1 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 4 Plate 470 Hagsater 2001 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 4 Plate 470 Hagsater 2001 as E cajamarcae see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 4 Plate 488 Hagsater 2001 see recognition section; Orquideas Nativas del Tachira Cesar Fernandez 2003 as E geminiflorum photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 74 No 5 2005 as E geminiflorum photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 12 Plate 1269 Hagsater 2009 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum Part 12 Plate 1269 Hagsater 2009 as E cajamarcae see recognition section ; Orchids of the Department of Valle De Cauca Colombia Vol 2 Kolanowska, Hagsater etal. 2014 as E geminiflorum drawing/photo fide; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1706 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1716 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1724 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 Drawing/photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1725 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1739 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 AS e CAJAMARCAE SEE RECOGNITION SECTION; Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1746 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 17(2) Plate 1768 Hagsater & Jimenez 2020 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 18(1) plate 1843 Hagsater, Santiago and Medina 2020 see recognition section; Orquideas de Farallones de Cali Galindo-Tarazona, Haelterman, Zuluaga Trochez and Sebastian Moreno 2020 photo fide

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