Epidendrum tziscaoense Hágsater 1999 GROUP Cristatum SUBGROUP Cnemidophorum
Photo by © Daryl Yerdon and his Facebook Page
Drawing by © Jimenez and The AMO Herbaria Website
Common Name The Tziscao Epidendrum [A village in Chiapas state of Mexico]
Flower Size 1.2" [3 cm]
Found in Chiapas state of southern Mexico in humid jungle at elevations around 1300 meters as a large sized, cool growing terrestrial with simple, cane-like, terete, erect stems carrying numerous, all along the stem, becoming deciduous with age, coriaceous, lanceolate, acute, margin entire, smooth, with a dorsal keel leaves that blooms in the spring on a terminal, on a 3 to 4 year mature stem, without a spathe, racemose, peduncle 1.4 to 1.6" [3.5 to 4 cm] long, with 5 to 7 long, imbricating, conduplicate, rounded bracts, rachis terete, 1.8 to 6.8" [4.5 to 17 cm] long, arcuate, simultaneously 12 to 44 flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary, ovate, acute floral bracts and carrying resupinate, pale green with reddish purple spots, the column and the lip are white, the column is apically tinged with pale purple and the lip is tinged the same around the disc, the apex of the midlobe is greenish and the flowers have a weak fragrance of lemon, vanilla and cinnamon.
CAUTION!!!!!!!!!! I am not convinced that the photo is correct, the lip does not seem right but this plant was awarded by the AOS as E tziscaoense. The type Drawing is absolutely correct.
"Epidendrum tziscaoense belongs to GROUP Cristatum SUBGROUP Cnemidophorum Characterized by the pink-purple or yellow to yellowish green flowers, the lip with the margin of the lateral lobes entire. The species is recognized by the large caespitose plant, many-leaved, terete stems with lanceolate, acute leaves, the 5 to 7 long, conduplicate, imbricating sheaths, the apex rounded, with a short, compact, nutant raceme of pale green flowers, the sepals and petals marked with large spots of reddish-purple, the column and lip white lightly tinged with purple and the lip with a small, entire midlobe. As herbarium specimens, the flowers dry black, the species is identified by the very short, compact racemes, the flowers with entire lobes of the lip. It has approximately the same color as E. raniferum Lindl., but this species has the lateral lobes of the lip deeply lacerate and the midlobe bifid. In shape the flowers are very similar to E. cnemidophorum which has yellow sepals and petals spotted with reddish-brown, and the column and lip are rose-magenta, the callus white, the midlobe of the lip is widened at the apex to short-bifid, blunt lobes, flowers are usually larger, sepals being .6 to 15 to .92" [23 mm] long. Epidendrum pfavii Rolfe has deep magenta flowers with the disc white, entire lateral lobes and a bifid midlobe, floral bracts are long acuminate." Hagsater etal 1999
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Icones Orchidacearum 3 Plate 391 Hagsater & Sanchez, Garcia Cruz 1999 Icones Orchidacearum 11 Plate 1157 Hagsater 2008 Drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 13 Plate 1322 Hagsater & Santiago 2010 See recognition section; Icones Orchidacearum 14 Plate 1491 Hagsater & Dodson 2013 photo/drawing fide; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018
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