Epidendrum montserratense Nir 2000 GROUP Amblostomoides SUBGROUP Amblostoma
Photos by © Charles Wilson
Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website
Common Name The Montserrat Epidendrum [An Island in the Caribbean]
Flower Size .8" [2 cm]
Found on the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean on rocks or old mango trees at lower elevations as a medium sized, hot growing lithophyte or epiphyte with slender, cane-like, terete, fusiform, homoblastic stems enveloped completely by scarious sheaths and carrying 2 to 5, distal, all in the apical 1/4 of the stem, articulate, coriaceous, narrowly elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, obtuse to subacute, minutely apiculate, margin entire leaves that blooms in the fall on a terminal, slender, peduncle 4.42" [11.4 cm] long, elongate, thin, subterete, provided with 2 small, triangular, acuminate, amplexicaul bracts, rachis straight, papillose, with 2 to 3 flowered racemes, each raceme 2.8" [7 cm] long, paniculate, 7.6 to 11.6" [19 to 29 cm] long overall, subdensely, simultaneously 20 to 27 flowered inflorescence with diaphanous, much shorter than the ovary, triangular, acuminate, amplexicaul floral bracts and carrying resupinate, greenish yellow flowers.
" Epidendrum montserratense belongs to the GROUP Amblostomoides SUBGROUP Amblostoma which is characterized by the caespitose habit, the thinly fusiform stems with narrow, apically bilobed, sub-coriaceous leaves distributed along the apical half of the stems, an often large, apical, erect, paniculate inflorescence, the flowers greenish-yellow to white, the ovary and the sepals usually dorsally pubescent, and the lip 3-lobed. The species has greenish yellow flowers, with scarcely visible papillae on the peduncle, rachis and floral bracts, the lateral lobes of the lip are sub-orbicular, with 3 thickened veins at the base, the mid-lobe is sub-quadrate, emarginate, ending in a pair of small circular lobes. Epidendrum pubiflorum C.Schweinf. has the rachis finely pubescent, slightly larger flowers, but the petals are .08" [2 mm] wide and the lip is bicallose and 3-keeled, the lateral lobes dolabriform and the mid-lobe cuneate, truncate. Epidendrum lanipes Lindl. has larger plants and flowers strongly fragrant of citrus, the rachis as well as the ovaries are pubescent, lateral lobes of the lip semi-ovate, mid-lobe cuneate, retuse, bicallose with three short keels in front. Epidendrum ancirotylosum Hágsater & E.Santiago has short, thickened stems, an erect, relatively large, paniculate inflorescence, the rachis glabrous, fleshy flowers, the ovaries pubescent, the sepals dorsally sparsely shortpubescent, petals linear, falcate, and the lip deeply 3-lobed, the lateral lobes obliquely oblong-reniform, the mid-lobe narrowly sub-rhombic, obtuse, bicallose, the calli with a cuniculus beneath them, and a semi-circular, anchor-shaped structure in front. Epidendrum gabanense Hágsater & E.Santiago also has a pubescent ovary, and the lateral lobes of the lip are very small and rounded." Hagsater etal 2015
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Orchidaceae Antillanae Nir 2000 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 15 [1] Plate 1540 Hagsater 2015 drawing/photo fide
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