TYPE LCDP by © C. Uribe V/TYPE Photo by R. P. Sauleda and The AMO Herbario Website
Common Name Hurtado's Epidendrum [Andrés Hurtado García (1941-), born in Armenia, Colombia, Marista Brother, PHD in Literature from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, journalist, photographer and ecologist by nature, he has lectured worldwide on conservation, founded Colombia Secreta, pioneer in ecotourism, the Ciudad de Piedra, and Puerta de Orión in the Serranía de La Lindosa, where the species was discovered]
Flower Size .8" [2 cm]
Found in Guaviare department of Colombia on the sandstone structures of the Ciudad de Piedra at elevations of 350 to 414 meters a part of the Andean Tepuí, part of the Serranía de La Lindosa formed by sedimentary rock of the Araracuara formation (Cárdenas et al. 2008), and continuing as far as Mitú in the Vaupés as a small sized, hot growing epiphyte with thickened to form fusiform, homoblastic, furrowed, aggregate, sessile, close to one another, pale green, yellowing with age pseudobulbs, , covered by 3 to 4 non-foliar sheaths, scarious, papyraceous, becoming fibrous with time, absent in old pseudobulbs carrying 2 to 3, apical, erect, articulate, coriaceous, green; blade narrowly elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, acute, somewhat conduplicate, margin entire, spreading leaves that blooms on a terminal, erect, without a spathe, peduncle 2.72" [6.8 cm] long, terete, thin, pale green to yellow, with 1 bract at the middle, similar to the floral bracts but somewhat larger, dark brown; rachis 4.4" [11 cm] long, terete, thin, straight to slightly arching, .76" [19 cm] long including the flowers, apical, erect, from the new, immature growth, racemose, somewhat longer than the mature leaves simultaneously 4 to 10 inflorescence with shorter than the ovary, progressively smaller, triangular, embracing, acuminate, dark brown floral bracts and carrying resupinate flowers with the sepals and petals greenish yellow tinged brown to brownish, lip and column white, base of column green and the fragrance not registered.
"The species probably also occurs in the Chiribiquete mountain range in the departments of Guaviare, Caquetá and Amazonas and the Nukak Natural Reserve in Guaviare with a potential area of 6245 square kilometers including areas formed only by sandstone. Hasgsater etal. 2020
"Epidendrum hurtadoi belongs to the GROUP Coilostylis which is characterized by the sympodial, caespitose plants, the stems forming a fusiform pseudobulb, with an apical, racemose, distichous inflorescence, the peduncle covered by large bracts (but not spathaceous bracts), and flowers large, star-shaped, with long, narrow sepals and petals. The species is recognized by the compact plants, the pseudobulbs aggregate, sessile, close to one another, with erect, pointed leaves, the flowers with sepals and petals greenish yellow tinged brown to brownish, lip and column white, inflorescence produced from the immature growth, a short racemose inflorescence, the peduncle shorter than the mature leaves, sepals .76 to .8" [19 to 20 mm} long, petals linear-oblanceolate, acute, lateral lobes of the lip outspread, triangular, and the forward margin convex, mid-lobe linear-spatulate, apiculate, the basal half or isthmus long and narrow, apex sub-rhombic, spoon shaped. Epidendrum purpurascens has stipitate pseudobulbs longer and thinner with a long thin pedicel, and separated from each other by a thin rhizome, the flowers are purple green with white lip, the inflorescence is also produced from the immature growth and shorter than the mature leaf, the lateral lobes of the lip triangular but not outspread, the base of the lip being cuneate. Epidendrum viviparum Lindl. has spreading, apically rounded leaves, the elongate peduncle of the inflorescence always much longer than the leaves, usually 3-4 times longer, sepals are 30 mm long, petals linear-elliptic, acuminate, and the lateral lobes of the lip are hemi-ovate, sub-parallel to the mid-lobe, with the inner margin concave; this species always forms a keiki from the old inflorescence." Hagsater etal 2020
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Orchidacearum 17(2) Plate 1772 Hagsater & Jimenez 2020 LCDP/Photo fide;
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
