Epidendrum hameri Hágsater & L.Sánchez 1993 GROUP Difforme

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

Common Name Hamer's Epidendrum [German Orchid Specialist in El Salvador later 1900's]

Flower Size .8" [2 cm]

Found in Nicaragua and Costa Rica at elevations of 950 to 1150 meters as a small sized, warm to cool growing epiphyte with a simple, reed-like, laterally compressed, straight stem carrying 4 to 9, all along the stem, the lower ones elliptic and spaced apart, the upper ones ovate and imbricating, both bilobed apically leaves that blooms in the fall on a terminal, sessile, occuring only once, 1 to 2 flowered inflorescence with shorter than the ovary floral bracts and carrying resupinate, simulataneously opening, resupinate, very pale yellow green, transluscent flowers.

Known for its imbricate superior leaves, an inflorescence with 1 to 4 small flowers with linear-spathulate petals, a trilobed lip with the lateral lobes dolabriform, crenate and the median lobe is short and emarginate and forms 2 round lobules.

"Epidendrum hameri 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 is similar to E. firmum Rchb. f., but can be recognized by the imbricating upper leaves, 1 to 2 small flowers, and 3-lobed lip with dolabriform, crenate lateral lobes and short, emarginate midlobe forming two rounded lobules. Epidendrum lagenocolumna Hágsater, another similar species, has non imbricating upper leaves, 4 to 6, large flowers, semiorbicular lateral lobes, subquadrangular midlobe, and column swollen at the base because of the nectary unusually broad but constricted and decurved aboye the middle." Hagsater etal 1993

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Orchidacearum 2 Plate 142 Hagsater & Sanchez 1993 drawing fide; Manual de las Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003; Icones Orchidacearum 9 Plate 960 Hagsater 2007 see recognition section;

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