Epidendrum recurvatum Lindl. 1845 GROUP Recurvatum

Photo by Gerardo Torres Flickr Orchid Photo Website

Common Name The Recurved Epidendrum

Flower Size .6" [1.5 cm]

Found from in northwestern and northern Venezuela and Colombia in premontane forests at elevations of 1200 to 1850 meters as a medium to just large sized, cool growing, sympodial, caespitose epiphyte with erect to suberect, terete stems carrying aggregate towards the apex, 3 to 5, thin, green, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, sometimes dorsally carinate, margins entire, spreading leaves that blooms in the spring and summer on a terminal, arising on a mature stem, frequently paniculate and many-flowered, rarely racemose and few-flowered, arching pendent, with up to 10 racemes 2.8 to 6.4" [7 to 16 cm] long, distributed along the rachis, some racemes themselves branching, each raceme subtended by a bract similar to the floral bracts, peduncle .4 to .6" [1.0 to 1.5 cm] long, thin terete, short; rachis 2.8 to 8.82" [7 to 22.5 cm] flattened, 3.6 to 12" [9 to 30 cm] long overall, somewhat zig-zag, simultaneously 11 to 80 flowered inflorescence carrying rather fleshy, pale greenish brown suffused with maroon to reddish brown flowers with the disc and the middle of the 3 ribs cream colored, and the lip always facing the apex of the rachis, usually resupinate due to the arching-pendent inflorescence

"Epidendrum recurvatum belongs to the GROUP Recurvatum which is characterized by the caespitose, sympodial habit, the several leaves distributed towards the apex of the cane-like stem, apical inflorescence without any spathe, racemose to paniculate, the flowers always oriented towards the apex of the rachis, petals narrower than the sepals, and the entire lip ecallose with parallel ribs down the middle. The species is recognized by the long terete stems, thickened at the base, with 3 to 5 grass-like leaves aggregate towards the apex of the stem, the usually paniculate inflorescence which is arching-nutant, the peduncle thin, rachis elongate, the flowers slightly fleshy, pink to red to red-brown, sepals oblong to oblong-elliptic, petals linear-oblanceolate, and the lip entire, convex, cordiform, disc with 3 elongate ribs that reach the apical sinus. We have not found any species that shares this combination of characteristics. In our unpublished key to the groups of Epidendrum, it is closest to the GROUP Amblostoma SUBGROUP Amblostomioidesdue to the vegetative features except for the somewhat thickened fusiform stems, and the prominent calli of the 3-lobed lip in that group. In fact, in the original description, Lindley compares Epidendrum recurvatum to,A href="epitridactylum.htm"> Epidendrum tridactylum Lindl., except for the “rose-colored flowers, which are three to four times as large”. The GROUP Diothonea lack calli and has ribs on the disc of the lip, but the vegetative habit is monopodial and branching, and the column is anywhere from free to obliquely united to the lip as in Epidendrum lloense (Lindl.) Hágsater & Dodson." Hagsater etal 2021

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 6: 72 Schlechter 1919; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1959 drawing fide; Flora of Venezuela Vol 15 Parte 3 Foldats 1970 drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela, an Illustrated Field Guide Vol 2 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing fide; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 5 COS 1994 #870 as E sp photo fide; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 6 COS 1998 errata; Orchids of Venezuela, an Illustrated Field Guide Vol 2 Second Edition Romero & Carnevali 2000 drawing fide; Orchids of the Department of Valle De Cauca Colombia Vol 2 Kolanowska, Hagsater etal. 2014 photo fide; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 drawing/photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1791 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 18(2) Plate 1888 Hagsater & Jimenez 2021 LCDP/photo fide

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