Epidendrum isthmi Schltr. 1922 GROUP Pseudepidendrum SUBGROUP Paniculatum
Photos by © German Carnevali and CICY Website
Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website
LATE 
Common Name The Panamanian Epidendrum
Flower Size .6" [1.5 cm]
Found in Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama at elevations of sealevel to 1800 meters as a large sized, hot to cool growing epiphyte with a simple, cane-like, terete, very slightly thickened on the basal half, erect, straight stems carrying 9 to 15, all along the stem, articulate, alternate, subcoriaceous, lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate, acute leaves that blooms in the late spring through winter on a terminal, occuring only once, thin, somewhat laterally compressed, straight, paniculate, suberect to slightly arching, to 9" [22.5 cm] long, laxly many [10 to 50] flowered inflorescence with the peduncle without bracts, branches with triangular, acuminate floral bracts and carrying simultaneoulsy opening flowers.
The branching stems, the erect inflorescence, the relatively large flowers with the lip and the apex of the column white, the lip can be edged with green, an immaculate disc, the lateral lobes of the lip are more or less rectangular with an irregular margin and the apical lobes are divaricate but straight and with folds distinguish the species from others.
"Epidendrum isthmii belongs to the GROUP Pseudepidendrum which is characterized by caespitose plants, cane-like stems, acute to acuminate leaves, usually apical inflorescence, the filiform petals and the lip usually 3-lobed with 3 parallel fleshy keels, the apical lobe often bifurcate, the "bird-wing" type pollinia, and SUBGROUP Paniculatum which has green and white f1owers, often marked with purple on the disc of the lip and apex of the column. The species is recognized by mid to tall plants 20 to 48" [50 to 120 cm] high, with a suberect, lax-f1owered inflorescence, the greenish floral segments spreading, with the 3-lobed lip with the disc white and the margin frequently greenish. Epidendrum veroscriptum Hágsater, has somewhat taller plants to 64" [160 cm] tall with the floral segments somewhat reflexed, green, and the disc of the lip generally marked with a semicircle of purple dots. Epidendrum roseoscriptum Hágsater has shorter plants to 16" [40 cm] tall, the flowers greenish yellow with the subentire lip with a solid pink blotch on the disc." Hagsaer etal 2008
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 17: 34. Panama Schlechter 1922; Field Guide to the Orchids of Costa Rica and Panama Dressler 1993; Icones Orchidacearum 2 Plate 183 Hagsater & Dodson 1993 see recognition section; Guatemala Y Sus Orquideas Behar & Tinschert 1998 photo fide; Manual de las Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003; Vanishing Beauty, Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 1 Pupulin 2005 photo fide; Orchids of Mexico Hagsater, Soto, Salazar, Jimenez, Lopez and Dressler 2005; Icones Orchidacearum 11 Plate 1133 Hagsater 2008 drawing fide; Orchids of Costa Rica Vol 3 Morales 2009 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 14 Plate 1408 Hagsater & Santiago 2013 See recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 14 Plate 1492 Hagsater & Santiago 2013 See recognition section; Orchids of the Darien Gap Kolanowska 2014 drawing fide; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 Photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 16[1] Plate 1630 Hagsater & Santiago 2018 See recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1736 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 See recognition section
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