TYPE Photo by © Guido Deburghgraeve/TYPE Drawing by D. Trujillo & A. Cisneros and The AMO Herbario Website
Common Name The Becoming Yellow Epidendrum [in reference to the green flowers that turn yellow as they age]
Flower Size 1.6" [4 cm]
Found in central Peru and western Bolivia, on the upper Amazon slope of the Andes, in high Andean forest and cloud forest at elevations of 2500 to 3600 meters as a small sized, cold growing epiphyte or lithophyte with stems forming fusiform, smooth, reddish green when young, to furrowed and reddish brown when mature pseudobulbs, each new pseudobulb produced from the base of the previous one covered by 2 non-foliar, scarious and becoming fibrous with age sheaths, and carrying a single, apical, articulate, coriaceous, green, the margin and dorsal keel blackish green, rugose ventrally; blade elliptic, apex rounded, unequally bilobed, minutely apiculate, revolute in pressed specimens, margin entire leaf that blooms in the winter arising through a single, tubular at base, conduplicate, oblong, the apex rounded, minutely striated and rugose, light brown spathe, peduncle 3" [7.5 cm] long, terete, erect, straight, pale green, rachis .6" [1.5 cm] long, terete, thin straight, pale green, 6.4" [14 cm] long, apical, erect, few-flowered, racemose, longer than the leaf, simultaneously 4 flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary, widely triangular, acute, embracing floral bracts and carrying non-resupinate, apple green turning yellow flowers with a fragrance of carnation with clove.
"Epidendrum lutescens belongs to the GROUP Saxicola characterized by the pseudobulbous stems, caespitose or scandent habit, the prominent spathe apically rounded, few-flowered, erect inflorescence, flowers purple or yellow, and surface of the vegetative structures often rugose. The species is recognized by the large, apple green flowers that turn yellow as they age, sepals 1 to 1.04" [25 to 26 mm] long, convex, petals .96 x .28" [24 x 7 mm], rhombic-spatulate, acute, lip .68 x .64" [17 x 16 mm] , obscurely pentagonal, with laminar calli widely separated. Epidendrum milpoënse Hágsater & E.Santiago has 2 to 3 green flowers but much smaller, sepals .72 to .76" [18 to 19 mm] long, petals .64 to .69" x .2 to .28" [16 to 17.5 x 5.0 to 7.0 mm], lip .44 x .6" [11 x 15 mm], widely cordiform, obtuse, and calli small and globose. Epidendrum microcattleyioides D.E.Benn. & Christenson has 4 yellow flowers with the margins white, sepals .48 to .52" [12 to 13 mm] long, petals, .42 x .26" [10.5 x 6.5 mm], obovate, apex obtuse-rounded, lip reniform with globose calli. Epidendrum saxicola Kraenzl. has 2 flowers with sepals .6 to .72" [15 to 18 mm] long, dirty pale purple brown to pink, petals and lip white tinged purple to pale green, petals .6 to .72" x .2 to .24" [15 to 18 x 5 to 6 mm], linear-oblanceolate, lip sub-orbicular to widely cordiform. Epidendrum magnisaxicola Hágsater, Edquén & E.Santiago has 2 greenish yellow flowers, sepals tinged brown, sepals 24-25 mm long, petals 1 x .16" [25 x 4 mm], oblanceolate, lip .54" x .44" [13.5 x 11 mm], ovate-rhombic, base truncate. *NOTES: The original description of Epidendrum microcattleyioides indicates that the dorsal sepal measures .6 x .26" [15 x 6.5 mm], and lateral sepals .9 x .3" [22.5 x 7.5 mm]. Analyzing a flower in spirit of the type, Bennett 7939 at MOL shows that the flowers are smaller, sepals are .48 to .52" x .24 to .28" [12 to 13 x 6 to 7 mm]. The specimens collected by Vásquez and Krömer from Bolivia were not seen but indicated by Vásquez (2004) (the private herbarium of Roberto Vásquez was transferred to LPB)." Hagsater etal 2020
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Orchidacearum 17(2) Plate 1778 Hagsater & Jimenez 2020 TYPE Drawing/Photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 17(2) Plate 1796 Hagsater & Jimenez 2020 see recognition section;
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