Epidendrum molanoi Rinc-Gonzales, M F Escal, E Santiago and J S Moreno 2020 GROUP Andean SUBGROUP Cernuum

LCDP Photo by © J S Moreno and Icones Orchidacearum 18(1) plate 1825 2020

LATER

Common Name Molano's Epidendrum [Colombian Sociologist, journalist and writer who dedicated his life to travel the rural areas of Colombia with the intention of comiling a historical memory of the Guerilla vs government conflict and worked the last years of his life to mediating the peace dialogues, (1944 to 2019}]

Flower Size 1.6" [4 cm]

Found in Tolima department of Colombia on the eastern slope of the Cordillera Central in Tolima, Colombia at elevations of 2800 to 3400 meters as a giant sized, cold growing lithophye or terrestrial with cane-like, terete, straight, branching sub-apically; the primary stem 52 to 60" x .4 to .44" [130 to 150 x 1.0 to1.1 cm], the branches 2,4 to 3.2" x .24 to .28" [6 to 8 x 0.6 to 0.7 cm], branching distally, the branches shorter than the main stem and carrying 15 to 22, along the main stem, 5 along the apical half of the branches, elliptic, rounded to bilobed apcially, coriaceous, smooth, green to dark purple, margin entire, stem leaves much larger than the branch leaves that blooms in the late summer, fall and winter on a terminal, without a spathe, from the primary stem and the branches, peduncle terete, arching, unornamented, , rachis straight 4.8" [12 cm] long, overall, racemose, arching, simultaneously 12 to 30 flowered inflorescence with triangular, acuminate, much shorter than the ovary floral bracts and carrying resupinate, non-fragrant flowers.

"Epidendrum molanoi belongs to the GROUP Andean SUBGROUP Cernuum , characterized by the monopodial, cane-like stems with subapical branching, the branches much shorter than the main stem, coriaceous to sub-coriaceous, bilobed leaves and fleshy resupinate flowers with the lip 3-lobed. This new species is recognized by its purple flowers, with the base of the column greenish-yellow, the sepals of .48" [12 mm] long, fleshy and dorsally pustulous, the petals .48 x .2" [12 x 5 mm], spatulate with the apex obtuse and the margin revolute in the basal half, and the lip .28 to .44" [7 x 11 mm], 3-lobed, the lateral lobes dolabriform with the distal margin crenate, the mid-lobe rectangular, obovoid. Epidendrum gaertelmaniae Hágsater & O.Pérez has greenish-purple flowers, sepals unornamented, the lateral sepals with the prominent apex aristate, petals .332 x .152" [8.3 x 3.8 mm], with the margin strongly revolute, erose, and the lip .28 x .332" [7 x 8.3 mm] with a tridentate thickening on the disc, the mid-lobe transversely rectangular. Epidendrum brevicernuum Hágsater & Dodson has greenish-white to green flowers, sepals .32 to .48" [8 to 12 mm] long, unornamented, the laterals prominently aristate, petals .32 to .42" x .04 to .1 [8 to 10.5 x 1.0 to 2.5 mm], narrowly oblanceolate with the margin strongly revolute, and the lip .24 to .26 x .324 to .38" [6 to 6.5 x 7.6 to 9.5 mm], with the mid-lobe sub-quadrate." Hagsater etal 2020

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Orchidacearum 18(1) plate 1825 Hagsater & Santiago 2020 Photos fide

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