Epidendrum rhaibogyrum Hágsater & E.Santiago 2013 GROUP Pseudepidendrum SUBGROUP Paniculatum

TYPE Drawing TYPE Photo by Alex Hirtz/TYPE Drawing by R Jimenez M and The AMO Herbaria Website

Common Name The Bent Ring Epidendrum [refers to the purple zigzag ring around the disc of the lip]]

Flower Size .6" [1.5 cm]

Found in west central Ecuador on the western slope of the Andes at elevations of 1700 to 2000 meters as a large sized, cool growing epiphyte with cane-like, erect, terete, thin, straight stems carrying 8 to 14, all along the stem, articulate, alternate, sub-coriaceous, elliptic or narrowly elliptic, acuminate, margin entire leaves that blooms in the winter and spring on a terminal, without a spathe, sub-erect, paniculate, with 8 spreading branches (some themselves branched), peduncle terete, 1.2" [3 cm] long, thin, with an occasional prominent bract almost completely enveloping it, rachis 2.4 to 8.8" [6 to 22 cm] long, successively several, 100 to 200 flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary, 2 to 6 mm, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, amplexicaul floral bracts and carrying resupinate flowers with the sepals, petals and the base of the column green and the lip and the apical half of the column white with a purple, zigzag circle around the disc and dots on the ribs.

"Epidendrum rhaibogyrum belongs to the GROUP Pseudepidendrum which is characterized by caespitose plants, canelike stems, acute to acuminate leaves, usually apical inflorescence, the mostly filiform petals and the lip usually 3-lobed, with 3 parallel fleshy keels, the apical lobe often bifurcate, the “bird-wing” type pollinia, at least the inner pair, and SUBGROUP Paniculatum, which has filiform petals, all pollinia “bird-wing” type, green and white flowers, often marked with purple on the disc of the lip and apex of the column. The species is recognized by the green and white flowers, the lip marked with a solid purple zigzag circle around the disc of the lip, and dots on the ribs, sepals .32 to .4" [8 to 10 mm] long, lip with a single callus, apically 3-lobed, the mid-lobe bilobed, the lobes strongly divaricate, and clearly wider between these compared to the width between the lateral lobes, the lobes of the acute to acuminate, but non-cirrhose. Epidendrum cirrhochilum has somewhat smaller flowers, sepals .24 to .28" [6 to 7 mm] long, the lip with the margins long, cirrhose, and the disc of the lip decorated with a solid purple semi-circle, the mid-lobe deeply emarginate, the long lobes forming an inverted “V”. Epidendrum angaritae Hágsater has smaller plants to 22" [55 cm] tall, with larger flowers with sepals .6 to .68" [15 to 17 mm] long, greenish brown, the lip white with the disc marked with a semi-solid purple splotch. Epidendrum macroceras Schltr. which is endemic to northern Colombia has short plants to 20" [50 cm] tall, carrying green and white, immaculate flowers." Hagsater etal 2013

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Icones Orchidacearum 14 Plate 1467 Hagsater & Sanchez 2013 see recognition section; * Icones Orchidacearum 14 Plate 1479 Hagsater & Santiago 2013 drawing fide;

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------