Epidendrum lateritium Hágsater & Jenny 2010 GROUP Diothonea SUBGROUP Diothonea

TYPE Drawing by Jimenez and The AMO Herbaria Website

Common Name The Dark Brick Red Epidendrum [refers to the flowers color]

Flower Size .4” [1 cm]

Found in southern Ecuador at elevations around 2600 meters as a miniature sized, cold growing epiphyte with cane-like, terete, arising from the apical internodes of the previous stem, thin, erect, straight stem carrying about 8, all along the stem, spreading, slightly arching, alternate, articulate, subcoriaceous, linear-lanceolate, rounded apcially, bilobed, margin entire leaves that blooms in the winter on a terminal, occuring only once, racemose, peduncle very short, terete, thin, naked, rachis hidden by the flowers sub-umbelliform, arching, successively from the base of the rachis upwards to eventually being simultaneously 22 flowered inflorescence with about half as long as the ovary, narrowly triangular, acuminate, amplexicaul floral bracts and carrying resupinate flowers that are spirally arranged around the rachis and are reddish brown at the base and the apices of the tepals are lustrous orange, the column is greenish orange at the base and reddish purple towards the apex and the keels of the lip are orange.

"Epidendrum lateritium belongs to the GROUP Diothonea SUBGROUP Diothonea which is characterized by the branching plants, linear lanceolate to oblong, bilobed leaves, racemose, arching-nutant inflorescence, membranaceous, rarely fleshy flowers, the entire to 3-lobed, ecallose lip with the margin erose, without or with 1 to 10 thin, smooth to erose keels, the column completely to obliquely united to the lip, the anther reniform. The new species is recognized by the small flowers with sepals .16 to .18" [4.0 to 4.5 mm] long, lustrous red with the apices and base of the floral segment orange, the lip deeply cordate at the base, and the leaves spreading, slightly arching. Epidendrum alfonsopozoi has orange colored flowers, with the apex of the column and the base of the disc of the lip tinged purple, the base of the lip is sub-truncate, and the leaves sub-erect, not arching. Epidendrum jativae Dodson has somewhat larger flowers with sepals .24" [6 mm] long, green to brown-purple and the lip is 3-lobed." Hagsater etal 2010

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1345 Hagsater & Jenny 2010 drawing fide;

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