Epidendrum morae Ortiz, Hagsater, & Alvarez 2013 GROUP Arbuscula SUBGROUP Incomptum

Photo by © Luis Eduardo Alvarez

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

Common Name Mora's Epidendrum [Maria Cristina Mora - Colombian Past president of the Ascociacion Bogotana de Orquideologia and Good Friend current]

Flower Size .6" [1.5 cm]

Found in Cundinamarca department of Colombia on live tree fences in shade at elevations around 2480 meters as a small sized, cold growing epiphyte with a branching, arising from the middle internode of the previous, terete, straight, short stem and carrying unequal in size, lower one much shorter, aggregate towards the apex, elliptic, subacute, margin entire, membraneous leaves that blooms in the late spring on a terminal, on a mature stem, occuring only once, racemose, arching-nutant, peduncle somewhat compressed, straight, unornamented, successively 3 to 6, 6 to 12 flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary, triangular, acute floral bracts.

"Epidendrum morae belongs to the GROUP Arbuscula which is characterized by the erect habit with successive lateral growths produced from the middle of the previous growth, few leaves aggregate towards the apex of the stems, roots generally only from the base of the primordial stem, and the Arbuscula SUBGROUP Incomptum which has a short apical inflorescence with fleshy yellowish to green to violet-green to black flowers with short ovaries, the lip entire to 3-lobed. The species is recognized by the pale yellow flowers slightly tinged with rose-violaceous, the obliquely sub-quadrate lateral lobes of the lip much larger than the trapezoid, deeply emarginated mid-lobe. Epidendrum homoion Hágsater & Dodson has green flowers sometimes tinged purple, wider petals, wider lip, 1.04 to 1.12" [26 to 28 mm] wide, the lateral lobes of the lip are semi-orbicular, with the anterior side straight. Epidendrum molinae P.Ortiz & Hágsater has widely elliptic leaves about half as wide as they are long, the arching-nutant, densely many flowered inflorescence with green flowers, the sepals dorsally lightly tinged with purple, the oblanceolate petals and the wide, 3-lobed lip, the lateral lobes obliquely subquadrate, and small mid-lobe transversely rectangular, twice as wide as it is long, short-apiculate. Epidendrum incomptum Rchb.f. has the mid-lobe as long as it is wide, and the lateral lobes of the lip are forward positioned, more or less triangular, so that the base is truncate, not cordate, flowers are dark green and ecallose. Epidendrum envigadoënse Hágsater, also found in the same general area, has narrower leaves, fewer flowers, wider, obtuse petals, a clearly 3-lobed lip .7 to .76" [17.5 to 19 mm] wide, the lateral lobes obliquely elliptic, the mid-lobe somewhat larger, emarginate, forming two semi-orbicular lobes." Hagsater etal 2013

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Icones Orchidacearum 14 Plate 1452 Hagsater & Sanchez 2013 see recognition section; * Icones Orchidacearum 14 Plate 1460 Hagsater & Sanchez 2013 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 16[1] Plate 1600 Hagsater & Santiago 2018 See recognition section; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 photo fide;

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