Epidendrum leucochilum Link, Klotzsch & Otto 1843 GROUP Excisum SUBGROUP Leucochilum
Photo by © Eric Hunt
Photo by © Jay Pfahl.
Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website
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Common Name The White Flowered Epidendrum
Flower Size 4" [10 cm]
Found in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru in wet montane forests at elevations of 1000 to 3100 meters as a large sized, caespitose, warm to cold growing, terrestrial, lithophyte or epiphyte with erect, leafy reed-stems carrying elliptic, emarginate, coriaceous, gradually becoming conduplicate below leaves that blooms in nature in the fall, winter or spring on lateral to pendant, terminal, racemose, 16" [40 cm] long, cylindric inflorescence arising on a mature stem from a large, compressed spathe that completely envelops the peduncle and carries minute floral bracts and numerous, spidery, fragrant flowers.
Recent research has shown that the name E longiflorum long associated with this species was used previously for an Indian species in 1791 by Koenig so according to Nomenclature rules this name becomes invalid and so E leucochilum takes precedence.
"Epidendrum leucochilum GROUP Excisum SUBGROUP Leucochilum characterized by the caespitose plants with cane-like, erect stems, fleshy leaves, the base of the inflorescence with 1 to 2, spathe-like bracts, star-shaped flowers with narrow sepals and pctals, and a prominent, acuminate, lip. The species is recognized by its large plants, coriaceous leaves, prominent spathaceous bract at the base of an erect, raceme of large, star-shaped, green flowers with white, column and 3-lobed lip. It is most similar to E. lehmannii Schltr., (the sister species from the eastern slopes of the Andes in Ecuador and Peru which has wider leaves ( 2:1 to 5:1), smaller flowers (sepals 1.2" [3 cm] long and floral fragrance of papaya. It is also related to E. friderici-guillielmi Warsc. ex Rchb.f. which has intensely fuchsia-colored, smaller flowers, with sepals .52" [13 to 25 mm] long. Some specimens of E. steyermarkii A.D. Hawkes have been misidentified as E. longiflorum, but E. steyermarkii of the GROUP Andean SUBGROUP Cernuum can be distinguished by the monopodial, sub-apically branching stems, much smaller leaves and the inflorescence without any spathaceous bract; the flowers are very similar, though smaller. Epidendrum lacustre Lindl. is recognized by the flattened, ancipitose stems, wide leaves (1.9:1 to 3.4:1), and the undivided lip; they are both found growing sympatric at least near Tulcán, Ecuador." Hagsater etal 2009
Synonyms Epidendrum flavidum Lindl. 1846; Epidendrum leucarachne Schltr. 1920; Epidendrum longiflorum Kunth 1815; Epidendrum spectatissimum Reichb.f. 1855; Epidendrum splendidum Schltr. 1921
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1854; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1855 as E spectatissimum; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 6: 70 Schlechter 1919; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 6: 72 Schlechter 1919 as E spectatissimum; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 7: 136 Schlechter 1920 as E leucarachne; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 7: 248 Schlechter 1920 as E leucarachne; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 7: 248 Schlechter 1920; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 7: 248 Schlechter 1920 as E longiflorum; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 7: 252 Schlechter 1920 as E spectatissimum; Atlas des Orchidees Cultivees Constantin 1920 drawing fide; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 8: 87 Ecuador Schlechter 1921 as E splendidum; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 27: 68 Colombia Schlechter 1924; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. Figuren-Atlas 57: 185 Schlechter 1929 as E leucarachne drawing hmm; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. Figuren-Atlas 57: 365 Schlechter 1929 as E splendidium drawing fide; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1959 as Epidendrum leucochilum drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 39 No 7 1970 as E leucochilum photo fide; Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 3 1970 as Epidendrum leucochilum drawing fide; Fieldiana Biology, Vol 33, 1st Supple. to the Orchids of Peru Schweinfurth 1970; Fieldiana Biology, Vol 33, 1st Supple. to the Orchids of Peru Schweinfurth 1970 as E spectatissimum; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 9 513 - 576 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977 as E leucochilum; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 9 513 - 576 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1977; Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 as E leucochilum drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 49 No 10 1980 as Epidendrum leucochilum photo fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 087 Dodson 1980 as E leuchochilum drawing fide; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 5 COS 1994 photo fide; Manual Of Orchids Stewart 1995; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum Plate 463 Bennett & Christenson 1998 drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 1 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 as E leucochilum drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 1 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 as E longiflorum drawing fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 2 Dodson 2001 as E longiflorum drawing/photo fide; Orquideas Nativas del Tachira Cesar Fernandez 2003 photo fide; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003; AOS Bulletin Vol 74 No 10 2005 photo fide; Orquideologia Vol 26 No 1 2009 as E longiflorum photo fide; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum Part 12 Plate 1260 Hagsater 2009 drawing fide; Orquideologia 27: #1 Ortiz & Hagsater 2010 photo fide; Las Orquideas del Peru Izerskyy & Bezverhov 2011 photo fide; Orchids of the Department of Valle De Cauca Colombia Vol 2 Kolanowska, Hagsater etal. 2014 drawing/photo fide; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 Photo fide; Orquideas de Farallones de Cali Galindo-Tarazona, Haelterman, Zuluaga Trochez and Sebastian Moreno 2020 photo fide
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