Epidendrum × obrienianum Rolfe 1888 GROUP Secundum
LCDP Photo by © R. Jiménez M. & A. Cisneros Photo by R. Jiménez M and The AMO Herbario Website
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Common Name O'Brien's Epidendrum
Flower Size
Found in Hawaii as an escaped naturalized hybrid of E radicans and E jamiesonis. Does not occur in nature otherwise and never occuring in Hawaii historically as neither of the parents exist there naturally with simple, cane-like, terete, straight, stems with the basal part covered by several non-foliar, chartaceous, gray, imbricated, tubular sheaths and carrying 7 or more, distributed along the apical half of the stem; sheaths tubular, thin, smooth to slightly striated, brown; blade oblong-elliptic, apex shortly bilobate, coriaceous, green, margin entire leaves. that blooms on a terminal, without a spathe, peduncle up to 10" [25 cm] long, elongate, terete, straight, green, covered by tubular bracts, chartaceous, gray, imbricated, acuminate; rachis 3.56 to 12.08" [8.9 to 30.7 cm] long, slightly laterally compressed, up to 20" [50 cm] long overall, apical from the mature stem, simple to pluri-racemose, erect, producing 1 to 3 new racemes from the upper nodes of the peduncle, successively up to 6 open at a time, many flowered inflorescence decreasing in length apically, much shorter than the ovary, triangular, chartaceous, acuminate, embracing floral bracts carrying non-resupinate, crimson-red flowers with the apical side lobes of the column, calli and mid-rib of lip yellow, anther green; fragrance none.
"Epidendrum × obrienianum belongs to the GROUP Secundum which is characterized by the caespitose habit, erect, simple, cane-like stems, the generally elongate peduncle of the inflorescence, the erect raceme of generally resupinate, showy, colorful flowers, the lip adorned by two calli and a median, narrow keel. The hybrid is recognized by the terrestrial, caespitose habit, crimson-red, non-resupinate flowers with yellow calli and mid-rib, anther green, petals oblong (about 15 mm long), obtuse, calli wide, linguiform, sub-divergent, ascendant, mid-rib of the lip yellow that reaches the middle of the isthmus of the mid-lobe, lip deeply 3-lobed, base somewhat cordate, lateral lobes sub-flabelliform, mid-lobe formed by a narrow isthmus in the basal half, apical half bilobed the lobes divergent, sub-quadrate, the distal margin dentate-laciniate and the apical lobes of the column are very short. It is very similar to the new Epidendrum cryptopateras Hágsater & Courtinard, from Martinique, being the same color and overall shape, but having slightly shorter sepals and petals (about .52" [13 mm] long, the apex of the column having elongated laminar lateral lobes, and calli being narrow, laminar, parallel, erect, semi-elliptic, Epidendrum puniceoluteum F.Pinheiro & F.Barros, from the southern coast of Brazil, is also very similar but having a brighter red color, the yellow color of the calli somewhat spilling onto the disc of the lip and wider, sub-quadrate calli, a wider mid-rib, shorter apical lobes of a thicker column." Hagsater etal 2019
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI Orchids of Australia Nicholls 1969 drawing fide; The Native Orchids of the United States and Canada Luer 1975 drawing/photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 83 #1 2019 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1715 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 see recognintion section; Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1745 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 LCDP Photo/photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum 17(1) Plate 1749 Hagsater & Jimenez 2019 See recognition section
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