Epidendrum sophronitis Linden & Rchb. f. 1867 GROUP Kalopternix Photo by Eric Hunt, plant grown by Hanging Gardens

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Common Name The Modest Epidendrum

Flower Size to about 1 1/2" [to 4 cm]

A Peruvian and Ecuadorian cool to cold, small, pendant growing species at elevations of 1500 to 3500 meters in very wet, montane forests, found very low on tree trunks in deep shade with constant moisture. The stems are enveloped with 4 to 5 distichous, imbricating, lanceolate, ballooning sheaths graduated in size from the base to the apex ballooning over the base of the oblong to broadly elliptic leaves carrying fleshy flowers close in to the leaf base , inside the midrib of the leaf and that is partially concealed by the uppermost sheath on a terminal, subsessile, very short, 1 to 4 succesive flowered, racemose inflorescence arising on mature canes occuring in the spring and summer.

"Epidendrum sophronitis Linden & Rchb.f. belongs to the Kalopternix Group, characterized by the erect or pendant, 1 or 2-leaved pseudobulbs, glaucous leaves, resupinate flowers with a wide-trullate lip, the margin fleshy-erose. The species is recognized by the has an upright habit, a single cuneate, elliptic, acute leaf per pseudobulb, 1,48 x .6" [37 x 15 mm], and the acuminate sepals are .48" [12 mm] long. Epidendrum andreettae has a pendant habit, single, fong leaves, the column geniculate with the ovary, at a 135 degree angle, and large flowers with acuminate segments, the petals 5-veined; the coloration of the segments is produced by dots in straight lines on the sepals, partially on the petals, and loosely covering the disc of the lip. It is vegetatively very similar to Epidendrum oxapampense Hágsater which has smaller flowers, acute floral segments and, the lip shortly apiculate, the petals 3-veined and the coloration of the flowers green with a single, large pink to maroon blotch on the lip." Adapted from E oxampense Icones Plate 705 Hagsater etal 2004

Synonyms Hormidium sophronitis Benth. & Hook. f. 1899; Kalopternix sophronitis (Linden & Rchb. f.) Garay & Dunst. 1976; Icones Orchidacearum 7 Plate 705 Hagsater and Sanchez 2004 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1354 Hagsater & Dodson 2010 See Recognition section; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 as E acf sophronitis drwaing ok; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 drawing/photo good;

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