Epidendrum gregorii Hágsater 1993 GROUP Difforme

TYPE Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website

Common Name or Meaning Gregor's Epidendrum [Sr Gregorio Ruiz Panamanian Orchid Collector current]

Flower Size .6" [1.5 cm]

Found in Valle de Anton province of Panama at elevations around 500 to 1000 meters as a mini-miniature sized, warm growing epiphyte with terete, cane-like, slightly flexuous stems carrying 5 to 6, all along the stem, subcoriaceous, elliptic, bilobed leaves that blooms in the later summer on a terminal, from the mature stem, occuring only once, sessile, successively 2, 2 to 3 flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary floral bracts and carrying resupinate, pale green flowers.

"Epidendrum gregorii Hágsater is a member of the GROUP Difforme characterized by the caespitose, sympodial plants, fleshy, pale green to glaucous leaves, apical inflorescence, sessile, rarely with a short peduncle, one-flowered to many-flowered, and then corymbose, without spathaceous bracts, fleshy, green to yellowish-green rarely white flowers. The species can be recognized by the small flowers, acute sepals with prominent dorsal keel, bilobed lip, each lobe obliquely notched on the distal margin, and c1inandrium somewhat prominent, tripartite. Epidendrum schistostemum is closely related but its relatively short plants, terete stems, 1 to 2 white flowers, entire, widely cordiform lip, the column with prominent apical lateral, obtuse lobes, the margin erose, and separated from the lip by deep sinii, the clinandrium-hood entire, margin dentate. It is similar vegetatively to Epidendrum hammelii Hágsater &: Sánchez but has very different flowers." Hagsater etal 1993

ReferencesW3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Icones Orchidacearum 2 Plate 143 Hagsater & Sanchez 1993 see recognition section; * Icones Orchidacearum 2 Plate 251 Hagsater 1993 drawing fide; Field Guide to the Orchids of Costa Rica and Panama Dressler 1993; Icones Orchidacearum 11 Plate 1177 Hagsater 2008 see recognition section;

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