Epidendrum pogonochilum Carnevali & G.A.Romero 2000 GROUP Nanum SUBGROUP Renzii
LCDP Photo by © J. S. Moreno and The AMO Herbario Website
Photos by © David Haelterman and his Flickr Orchid Photo Website
LATE 
EARLY 
Common Name The Bearded Lip Epidendrum
Flower Size .8” [2 cm]
Found in Santander and Norte de Santander departments of Colombia and Tachira state of Venezuela at elevations around 1850 to 2350 meters as a mini-miniature sized, cool to cold, repent growing epiphyte with mat-forming, terete at the base, somewhat laterally compressed towards the apex, thin, pendulous to repent; the new stems originating from apical and sub-apical internodes of the previous stems stems carrying 7 to 22, distributed throughout the stems, the basal leaves deciduous in old stems, articulate, alternate, twisted at base so lies in the same plane as the stem, coriaceous, green with red tinge; sheaths 3-4 mm long, tubular to slightly infundibuliform in pressed specimens, minutely striated, green tinged red; blade 5-13 x 2-5 mm,fleshy, persistent, narrowly ovate to lanceolate, apex obtuse, slightly bilobed, margin entire leaves that blooms in the late fall and early winter on a terminal, arising through 1 to 2, elliptic, apex obtuse, oblique, conduplicate, somewhat imbricated at the base, blackish brown, totally covering the peduncle and rachis of the inflorescence spathes, on the branches, very short, peduncle .16" [4 mm] long, terete, thin; rachis .04" [1 mm] long, with a small, untidy sheath, .4 to .48" [1.0 to 1.2 cm] long (including the flowers), subumbellate, the flowers in two opposite pairs at 90° of each other, racemose, simultaneously 4 flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary, narrowly triangular, acute, embracing floral bracts and carrying resupinate flowers.
"Epidendrum pogonochilum belongs to the 2000 GROUP Nanum SUBGROUP Renzii which is recognized by the branching, Dichaea-like plants, short inflorescences with two pairs of opposite flowers, 1 to 2 small spathes, and a prominent vesicle along the pedicellate ovary. The species is recognized by the pale green flowers with the apical half of the lip wine-red colored, the lip .32 x .24" [8 x 6 mm], ovate somewhat narrowed in the middle and abruptly recurved, margin minutely erose, and the oblong petals, the nectary forms a vesicle wider than the pedicellate ovary. It is very similar to Epidendrum renzii Garay & Dunsterv., which has green to pale greenish brown flowers with purple dots of the dorsal surface of the sepals, lip .14 to .22" x .14 to .16" [3.5 to 5.5 x 3.5 to 4.5 mm], oblong-elliptic, the margins rounded, apex truncate, petals oblanceolate, and the nectary forms a very prominent, scrotum-like vesicle which is about three times higher than the pedicellate ovary, forming a triangle, but narrow, not wider than the pedicel." Hagsater etal 2020
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Orchids of Venezuela An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 3 Romero & Carnevali 2000; Orchids of Venezuela An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 1 Romero & Carnevali 2000 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 17(2) Plate 1788 Hagsater & Jimenez 2020 Drawing/Photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 17(2) Plate 1794 Hagsater & Jimenez 2020 see recognition section; fide
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