Epidendrum longicolle Lindl. 1838 GROUP Nocturnum
Photo by © Padre Pedro Ortiz
Drawing by © Walter Hood Fitch and Curtis Botanical Magazine
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Common Name The Long-Necked Epidendrum
Flower Size 1.6" [4 cm]
Found in Venezuela, Guyana, Trinidad, northern Brazil, Ecuador and Peru in rain forests generally low on tree trunks at elevations around 50 to 1000 meters as a small sized, pendant, horizontally spreading, hot to warm growing, shade loving epiphyte with clustered, leafy stems carrying linear-lanceolate, acute, rather leathery leaves that blooms in the winter on a short, few flowered inflorescence with showy, fragrant, resupinate flowers.
"Epidendrum longicolle belongs to the GROUP Nocturnum which is characterized by the sympodial, caespitose plants, short, racemose or pluri-racemose inflorescence, without spathaceous bracts, usually large, star-shaped flowers, with similar sepals and petals, and the Nocturnum Subgroup which has cane-like stems, non-thickened towards the middle, and usually successive flowers; the flowers are mostly indistinguishable in shape. The species can be recognized by the laterally compressed stems with 5 to 12 linear-lanceolate, acuminate leaves, length/width 10:1 to 20:1, 2 to 6" x .16 x .32" [5 to 15 x 0.4] to .32" [0.8 cm], sepals 1.12 to 1.68" [28 to 42 mm] long, lateral lobes of the lip joined to the mid-lobe through 1/3 to ˝ its length, ovary 1.2 to 1.6" [30 to 40 mm] long. It has been confused with Epidendrum minus (Cogn.) Hágsater has 59 lanceolate leaves, 4:1 a 6:1, 1.8 to 4.46" x .32 to .8" [4.5 to 11.5 x 0.8 to 2.0 cm], flowers smaller, .88 to 1.38" [22 to 32 mm] long, lateral lobes of the lip free to the base, divergent, ovary .84 to 1.32" [21 to 33 mm] long. Epidendrum micronocturnum Carnevali & G.Romero generally has 2 to 4[6] leaves distributed along the apical half of the stem, .16 to .24" [0.4 to 0.6 cm] wide, small flowers, sepals .6 to .8" [15 to 20 mm] long, and the ovary .88 to 1.04" [22 to 26 mm] long. Epidendrum mininocturnum Dodson, ranging along the Pacific slope in southern Colombia and northern Ecuador, has small plants, 2 to 6" [5 to 15 cm] tall, 4 to 5 narrow leaves .32 to .8" [8 to 20 mm] wide, small flowers, sepals 1.08 to 1.12" [27 to 28 mm] long, ovary 1.12 to 1.2" [27 to 30 mm] long, and is easily recognized by the numerous thickened veins on the lateral lobes of the lip." Hagsater etal 2010
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 27: 68 Colombia Schlechter 1924; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 9 513 - 576 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 428 Dodson 1982 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 2 Plate 152 Hagsater & Dodson 1993 see recognition section as E nocturnum var minus; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003; Orchids of Bolivia Vol II Laelinae Vasquez & Ibisch 2004; Orquideologia 24: 3 Ortiz & Hagsater 2005; Orquideas de la Serrania del Baudo Cho Colombia Misas 2005 drawing/photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1350 Hagsater 2010 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1356 Hagsater 2010 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1358 Hagsater 2010 see recognition section; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 drawing/photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 16(2) Plate 1695 Hagsater & Jimenez 2018 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 18(2) Plate 1875 Hagsater & Jimenez 2021 see recognition section
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