Epidendrum martinezii L.Sánchez & Carnevali 2001 GROUP Anceps SUBGROUP Polyanthum

Photo by © Gaudi Uribe Puebla

Drawing

TYPE Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website

LATE THROUGH MID

Common Name Martinez's Epidendrum [Mexican Botanist in Chiapas Current]

Flower Size .6" [1.5 cm]

Found in Tabasco, Chiapas and southern Yucatan states of Mexico, northern Guatemala and Belize in evergreen forests at elevations of 50 to 1000 meters as a small to medium sized, hot to warm growing epiphyte with simple, cane-like, terete, straight stems carrying 5 to 12, distributed along the upper half, coriaceous, spreading, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, shortly acuminate, mucronate, slightly carinate, entire marginally, basally clasping leaves that blooms in the late spring through mid winter on a terminal, erect, pluriracemose, racemose at first flowering, producing new racemes from the peduncle nodes as time goes on, terete, smooth, to 8" [to 20 cm] long, laxly, 10 to 25 flowered inflorescence enveloped by 1 to 2, imbricate, tubular, oblong-triangular, acute bracts and much shorter than the ovary, triangular, acute floral bracts and carrying simultaneously opening, weakly, fish scented flowers.

"Epidendrum martinezii belongs to the GROUP Anceps , which is recognized by the simple stems, generally elongate, compound racemose inflorescence producing new successive racemes with time, fleshy flowers, filiform to narrowly spatulate petals, and the SUBGROUP Polyanthum which has elongate, not sub-corymbose racemes. The species is recognized by the medium tall, terete stems, narrowly elliptic-lanceolate leaves .56 to .8" [1.4 to 2 cm] wide, the flowers with orange-yellow sepals .28 to .32" [7 to 8 mm] long and petals generaly tinged with chocolate brown, the basal half of the column green, the apical half and the lip white, racemes lax-flowered, ovary verrucose, lip 3-lobed, lateral lobes with a shallow sinus. It is somewhat similar to Epidendrum myodes Rchb.f. from Costa Rica and western Panama, delicate plants, terete stems, small flowers, sepals .12 to .2" [3 to 5 mm] long, and the bilobed lateral lobes of the lip with the basal lobe rounded and the long, acuminate, falcate, apical lobe. Epidendrum polyanthum Lindl. has very robust plants, taller than 24" [60 cm], terete stems, widely ovate-elliptic leaves .8 to 2.4" [2 to 6 cm] wide, and completely orange-yellow flowers, sepals .32 to .4" [7.8 to 10 mm] long. Epidendrum tuxtlense Hágsater, García-Cruz & L.Sánchez, endemic from the Gulf of Mexico slope in southern Veracruz and northern Oaxaca, has ancipitose stems, compact, dense-flowered racemes, smaller flowers, sepals .2 to .3" [5 to 7.5 mm] long, the ovary and sepals unornamented, the lip pale yellow, and the lateral sub-orbicular to sub-rectangular, entire." Hagsater etal 2010

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Harvard Pap. Bot. 5 #2: Carnevali etal. 2001 drawing fide; Orchids of Mexico Hagsater, Soto, Salazar, Jimenez, Lopez and Dressler 2005 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 11 Plate 1162 Hagsater 2008 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 11 Plate 1196 Hagsater 2008 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1355 Hagsater 2010 drawing fide; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018

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