Epidendrum tropidioides Garay 1978 GROUP Albertii SUBGROUP Allenii
Photos by © Jose Alejandro Romero Medina and his Flickr Orchid Photo Website
Drawing Drawing by © Lopez and The AMO Herbaria Website
Common Name The Tropidia-Like Epidendrum [refers to the floral bracts being like those in the genus Tropidia]
Flower Size .8" [2 cm]
Found in southern Colombia on the eastern slope of the Andes and in Peru on the eastern slope of the Cordillera Oriental in wet montane forests at elevations around 2700 to 2800 meters as a medium sized, cold growing terrestrial with simple, cane-like, laterally compressed stems carrying 16, all along the stem, elliptic, acuminate, margin entire leaves that blooms in the fall and winter on a terminal, without a spathe, racemose, elongate, erect, peduncle elongate, prominently 2 winged, 3.6 to 5.2" [9 to 13 cm] long, with an apical bract, successively single, 11 flowered inflorescence with as long or longer than the ovary, narrowly ovate, oblique, acute, conduplicate floral bracts and carrying resupinate, green flowers without fragrance data.
"Epidendrum tropidioides belongs to the GROUP Albertii SUBGROUP Allenii, which is characterized by having a caespitose habit, simple stems, an apical inflorescence with the peduncle elongate, two-winged, bare, not covered by bracts. The species has very large plants, up to 43.2" [1.8 meter] tall; leaves around 6 to 8" x .88 to 1.6" [15 to 20 x 2.2 to 4 cm] wide peduncle, large flowers, the sepals .88 to .92" [22 to 23 mm] long, the petals rhombic and the lip cuneate, with the apex widely rounded, and two very long laminar keels, the clinandrium hood much surpassing the body of the column with the apical margin minutely dentate. It is somewhat similar to E. aristatum Ackerman & Montalvo, which has a somewhat smaller habit, smaller, aristate floral bracts, linear petals, and a reniform, emarginate, revolute lip with a pair of short, flattened prominent calli, forming an arch together with the clinandrium in front of the column. Epidendrum puyoense Hágsater & Dodson has smaller plants, sepals .32 to .4" [8 to 10 mm] long, oblanceolate-spatulate petals, and the orbicular lip slightly longer than the clinandrium-hood, with two small calli." Hagsater 2008
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Icones Orchidacearum 11 Plate 1192 Hagsater & Santiago 2008 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 12 Plate 1207 Hagsater 2009 see recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 15 [2] Plate 1579 Hagsater & Sanchez 2016 see recognition section; Orquideas, Tesoro de Colombia Vol 2 Ortiz & Uribe 2017 drawing/photo hmm;
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
