Epidendrum wurdackii Hagsater, Santiago and Salas Guerr. 2021 GROUP Andean SUBGROUP Cernuum

LCDP Photo by J. D. Edquén & A. Cisneros and Icones Orchidacearum 18(2) Plate 1900 Hágsater, & Cisneros 2021

Common Name Wurdack's Epidendrum [In honor of John Julius Wurdack (1921-1998), American botanist who collected extensively in Brazil, Jamaica, Peru, and Venezuela, and specialized in Melastomataceae, though he collected numerous orchids and ferns, including the type specimens. His orchid collections are housed at AMES, US, USM, VEN, and other herbaria]

Flower Size .8" [2 cm]

Found in Amazonas, Cajamarca, Piura, Lambayeque, and San Martín departments of northern Peru at elevations of 2300 to 3511 meters as a large sized, cold growing, monopodial terrestrial with generally branching sub-apically, the primary stem 24 to 28" [60 to 70 cm] long, the branches 2.2 to 6.4" [5.5 to 16 cm], cane-like, terete, thin stems carrying 15 to 19 on the primary stem, 2 to 6 on the branches, alernate, articulate, coriaceous, spreading to subspreading, with tubular, striated, rugose, brownish purple sheaths, blade lanceoalte, obtuse, minutely apicaualte, margin entire, slightly revolute leaves that blooms in the late spring, summer and fall on a terminal, drooping, without a spathe, peduncle .2 to .4" [.5 to 1 cm] long, terete, thin , rachis .6 to 1.6" [1.5 to 4 cm] long, , .8 to 2" [2 to 5 cm] long, overall, densely 9 to 13 flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary, triangular-lanceolate, acuminate, embracing floral bracts and carrying flowers without fragrance data.

"Epidendrum wurdackii belongs to the GROUP Andean SUBGROUP Cernuum characterized by the monopodial habit, the cane-like stems with sub-apical branching, the branches shorter than the main stem, the coriaceous to sub-coriaceous leaves and fleshy flowers, and the lip 3-lobed. The species is recognized by the short, dense inflorescences, yellow to yellowish green flowers, the sepals dorsally tinged brownish purple dorsally, sepals .308 to .4"? 7.7-10 mm] long, the lip clearly 3-lobed with the lateral lobes obliquely ovate and the mid-lobe sub-quadrate, bicallose, calli laminar, erect, with a pair with a pair of fleshy thickenings in front of the calli, and a low, wide midrib reaching the apical sinus of the lip. Epidendrum jaramilloi Hágsater & Dodson is endemic to Ecuador and is vegetatively similar, but the flowers are green, concolor, the sepals .36 to .4" [9 to 10 mm]long, and the lip bicallose with a wide mid-rib. Epidendrum inamoenum Kraenzl. is vegetatively very similar, but the leaves are sub-parallel to the stem, flowers green to greenish yellow with the dorsal surface of the sepals purple-brown, lip 3-lobed but the lobes sub-ovate and the mid-lobe transversely rectangular, bicallose, with a prominent “Y” shaped mid-rib. Epidendrum amblyantherum Hágsater & E.Santiago has oblong-elliptic leaves 2 to 6.2" x ,88 to 1.48" [5 to 15.5 x 2.2 to 3.7 cm], an lax-flowered inflorescence 2.4 to 5.6" [6 to 14 cm] long, pale green, yellow or yellowish ochre, sepals .64 to .88" [16 to 22 mm] long, and the lip bicallose, with a prominent “Y” shaped mid-rib." Hagsater etal 2021

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Orchidacearum 18(2) Plate 1900 Hagsater & Jimenez 2021 LCDP photo/photo fide;

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