Epidendrum gratissimum (Rchb.f.) Hágsater & Dodson 1992 GROUP Diothonea SUBGROUP Diothonea
Photo by © Eric Hagsater
Photo by © Diego Calderon and his Flickr Orchid Birding Colombia Photo Website
Original Drawing by © Padre Pedro Ortiz Conserved at the Herbario de la Universidad Javeriana, Bogota Colombia
Drawing by © Lopez and The Herbario AMO Publications Website
LATE
Common Name The Enchanting Epidendrum
Flower Size .8" 2 cm]
Found in Colombia and Ecuador on both sides of the Andes in cloud forests mostly on steep slopes at elevations of 2400 to 3550 meters as a small to large sized, cold growing epiphyte or terrestrial with a branching from the mature terete, straight main stem longer than the branches and carrying 9 to 13, on the main stem, 4 to 8 on the branches, towards the apical end, alternate, suberect, lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, bilobed, entire margin, minute dorsal keel leaves that blooms in the fall through late spring on a terminal, nutant, racemose, 15 to 22 flowered inflorescence with lanceolate, acuminate, gradually shorter and covering only a small part of the ovary and carrying simutaneously opening flowers.
"Epidendrum gratissimum belongs to the GROUP Diothonea SUBGROUP Diothonea which is characterized by the branching plants, linear-lanceolate to oblong, tri-lobed leaves, racemose, arching-nutant inflorescence, membranaceous flowers (rarely fleshy), the entire to 3-lobed, ecallose lip with the margin erose; with or without 1 to 10 thin, smooth to erose keels, the column completely to obliquely united to the lip, the anther reniform. The species is recognized by the long inflorescence 2 to 2.8" [5 to 7 cm] pinkish yellow, pink or yellowish colored flowers, the subreniform, apically 4-lobed lip with 3 to 5, laminar, erose keels and the column obliquely united to the lip, with a prominent column-foot not involute, without forming a sac, and involute column wings. Epidendrum neoviridilforum Hágsater from the western slopes of the Andes, has green or burgundy-red flowers, with an entire, ovate-suborbicular lip, apically 4-lobed, with 5 laminar erose keels, at the base [running down the lip, the middle keel reaching about 3/4 of the lip) the lateral pair much reduced, with an prominent column-foot, not involute. Epidendrum orthopterum Hágsater & E.Santiago has a short inflorescence .8" [2 cm] long , a 3-lobed lip with 7 erose keels, and the column with a pair of straight, non involute wlngs." Hagsater etal 2006
Synonyms Epidendrum oyacachiense Hágsater 1992; Epidendrum pentacarinatum Hágsater & Dodson 1999, *Diothonea gratissima Rchb.f. 1852;
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Bot Notiser 130 Lojtnant 1977 as Diothonea grattissima; * Orquídea (Méx.) 12(2) 296 1992; Icones Orchidacearum 4 Plate 459 Hagsater 2001 as Epidendrum oyacachiense see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 7 Plate 770 Hagsater and Sanchez 2004 see recognition section; Orquideologia Vol 24 #1 2005 photo hmm?; Icones Orchidacearum 8 Plate 838 Hagsater & Sanchez 2006 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum Vol 8 Plate 851 Hagsater & Sanchez 2006 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum Vol 8 Plate 859 Hagsater & Sanchez 2006 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum Vol 8 Plate 879 Hagsater & Sanchez 2006 see recognition section; Orchids of the Department of Valle De Cauca Colombia Vol 2 Kolanowska, Hagsater etal. 2014 drawing/photo fide; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 drawing/Photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 16[1] Plate 1651 Hagsater 2018 see recognition section;
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