*Epidendrum putumayoense Hágsater & L.Sánchez 1999 GROUP Difforme
Photo by © Karl Siegler award winning CBR Grower Karlene Sanborn.
TYPE Drawing by © Jimenez, Hágsater & E.Santiago and The AMO Herbario Website
through LATE 
Common Name The Putumayo Epidendrum [Refers to the department of Colombia where it occurs]
Flower Size 1.6" [4 cm]
Found in southern Colombia on the Amazon slope of the Andes at elevations around 800 meters as a mini-miniature sized, warm growing epiphyte with simple, cane-like, laterally compressed, flexuous stems enveloped completely by a few imbricate leaf bearing sheaths carrying 3, equidistant on the stem, ovate-elliptic, apically bilobed, with a dorsal keel, unequal in size, greenish glaucous, unequally bilobed apically margin entire leaves that blooms in the spring and summer on a terminal, without a spathe, sessile, successively 1 to 3 flowered inflorescence with shorter than the ovary, triangular, acute floral bracts and carrying large for the plant, waxy, resupinate flowers with no fragrance.
"Epidendrum putumayoense is part of the GROUP Difforme characterized by the caespitose, sympodial plants, fleshy, pale green to glaucous leaves, apical inflorescence, sessile, rarely with a short peduncle, one-flowered to many-flowered, and then corymbose, without spathaceous bracts, fleshy, green to yellowish-green rarely white flowers. The species is recognized by its small plants, 3" [7.5 cm] tall, laterally compressed stems, 3 green glaucous, unequal leaves, sepals and petals narrowly oblanceolate, the sepals 9-veined, free petals, lip with semiovate, entire lateral lobes, a much smaller, emarginate midlobe and the unornamented column. It is similar to E. sympetalostele from the Magdalena River Valley, which has larger plants, 6.8" [17 cm] tall, 5-veined sepals, suberect petals adnate to the column so that they appear to arise from the middle of it, lip with three prominent central keels on the disc and several thickened lateral veins, suborbicular-subquadrate lateral lobes with a conspicuous notch near the base, and prominent bifid lobes at the sides of the column apex, and the very prominent clinandrium. Epidendrum althausenii A. D. Hawkes, widespread in the Amazon Basin, has simultaneous flowers, linear petals and a larger, subquadrate lip, .68 to .88" x 1 to 1.28" [17 to 22 x 25 to 32 mm]." Hagsater etal 1999
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Orchidacearum 3 Plate 377 Hagsater & Sanchez 1999 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin vol 78 No 5 2009 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 14 Plate 1471 Hagsater & Sanchez 2013 see recognition section; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 drawing fide; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 as E aff putumayoense photo ok; * Icones Orchidacearum 18(2) Plate 1858 Hagsater & Jimenez 2021 see recognition section
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