Epidendrum holstii Hágsater & Carnevali 2018 GROUP Secundum SUBGROUP Elongatum
TYPE Photo by © Eric Hagsater/TYPE Drawing by and R Jimenez and The AMO Herbario Webpage
Common Name Holst's Epidendrum [American Botanst and Curator of Selby Gardens Sarasota Florid current]
Flower Size .8 to 1" [2 to 2.5 cm]
Found in Venezuela and Brazil atop the Roraima, Kukenán, and Auyán tepuis, and westwards towards the tepuis of the Chimantá Massif, and to the Meseta del Jaua on compact sandstone, “arenisca,” in extreme ecological and edaphic conditions, full sunlight, very wet conditions without topsoil, and with often cold nights, and windy conditionsat elevations of 1850 to 2800 meters as a medium to large sized, cool to cold growing lithophyte with simple, cane-like, terete, erect, straight, green to reddish brown, especially towards the apex stems carrying 9 to 13, distichous, distributed along the apical half of the stem, alternate, articulate, green, unequal in size, the basal and apical leaves somewhat smaller basally with tubular, minutely striated sheaths, blade narrowly oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate, apex sub-obtuse, coriaceous, dark green leaves that blooms in the summer and fall on a terminal, 3.6 to .16.4" [9 to 41 cm] long, peduncle 2.4 to 14" [6 to 35 cm] long, elongate, green, covered by 5 tubular, yellow with brown dots, scarious when dry, striated, papyraceous, imbricated, acute bracts, rachis 2.64" [6.6 cm] long, racemose becoming pluriracemose, producing new racemes over time from the upper nodes of the peduncle, successively to 11, 17 flowered inflorescence with progressively smaller, much shorter than the ovary, triangular, acuminate floral bracts and carrying non-resupinate flowers with the sepals and petals crimson red to salmon to coral red, lip pink to purple, callus yellow with white along the apical margin, column lilac tinged green, anther yellowish green tinged brown along the sides and with no fragrance none.
"Epidendrum holstii belongs to the GROUP Secundum SUBGROUP Elongatum which is recognized by the caespitose habit, simple stems, leaves oblong-lanceolate, coriaceous, bilobed and elongate peduncle of the erect, pluri-racemose inflorescence, the flowers non-resupinate, the callus complicated, pluri-tuberculate. The species is recognized by the successive crimson-red sepals and petals, the lip pink, callus massive, yellow, the edges white; the flowers are relatively small, sepals .32 to .44" [8 to 11 mm] long. Epidendrum secundum has pink flowers with a massive yellow callus, the edges white, flowers somewhat larger, it is not found atop the tepuis, but at the foot or on the slopes around the middle slopes of the tepuis only." Hagsater etal 2018
SynonymsReferences W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Orchidacearum 16[1] Plate 1623 Hagsater / Santiago 2018 photo/Drawing fide; Orchid Digest Vol 83 #2 2019 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 17(2) Plate 1770 Hagsater & Jimenez 2020 LCDP/photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 18(1) plate 1816 2020 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 18(2) Plate 1871 Hagsater & Jimenez 2021 see recognition section
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