Epidendrum yanatilense Damian & Hágsater 2016 GROUP Alpicolum TYPE Drawing by © Damian and The Research Gate Website

Plant and Flowers Photo by © A Damian and The AMO Herbario Website

Common Name The Yanatil Epidendrum [A district of Cusco province of of Peru]

Flower Size .6" [1.5 cm]

Found in southern Peru on the eastern slopes of the Andes in wet montane forests at elevations around 2400 meters as a small sized, cold growing epiphyte with cane-like, simple, ancipitous stems carrying 5, all along the stem, coriaceous, alternate, articulate, generally erect-spreading, acuminate, margin entire leaves that blooms in the fall on a terminal, with a nearly parellel sided, acute, covering half the peduncle, margin papillose spathe, racemose, sub-erect, peduncle .48" [1.2 cm] long, rachis .24" [.6 cm] long, lax, simultaneously 2 flowered inflorescence with shorter than the ovary, acuminate floral bracts and carrying non-resupinate, greenish brown flowers without fragrance data.

"Epidendrum yanatilense belongs to the GROUP Alpicolum which is characterized by the simple, cane-like stems, long, narrow, 1 to 2 spathaceous bracts, fox-tail-like inflorescence and numerous flowers with fleshy lip, triangular mid-lobe and roundish lateral lobes. The new species is recognized by the very small plant, to ca. 2" [5 cm] tall, flowers are non-resupinate, small, dorsal sepal .16" [4 mm] long, and the lip is 3-lobed, with rounded lateral lobes and a triangular mid-lobe; calli two, large, laminar, rhomboid, leaning inwards so as to form a cuniculus in front of the entrance to the nectary. Epidendrum pucunoënse Hágsater & Dodson has larger plants, .68 to 1.28" [17 to 32 cm] tall, and numerous flowers on a raceme, the flowers are yellow-brown, the lip yellow, the calli are laminar, rounded, erect, with a short, thickened mid-rib in the middle; clinandrium is prominent, funnel-shaped, emarginate. Moreover, the calli of the new species are leaning inwards, laminar and it does not appear to have a thickened short mid-rib in between the calli, as is usual in all species of the GROUP Alpicolum , including Epidendrum pucunoënse. Among Peruvian species of Epidendrum, E. yanatilense is distantly similar to Epidendrum inamoenum Kraenzl. However, the latter resembles a GROUP Andean SUBGROUP Soratae which is characterized by a branching stem with infundibuliform, rugose, leaf sheaths and carrying acute, aristate, lanceolate leaves blooming on a short, thin, capitate inflorescence and flowers with a bicallose lip. Although the calli of the new species is reminiscent of E. inamoenum, with two laminar calli so as to form a canal in front of the entrance to the nectary; it has a monopodial plant habit, branching above, lacks any spathe, and is in every way much larger, stems to 20" [50 cm] tall. Moreover, small Epidendrums, as E. yanatilense less than 4" [<10 cm] tall) are not uncommon within the genus. For example, Epidendrum miserrimum Rchb.f. is quite frequent and has a wide distribution range. In addition, among the 12 Epidendrum species reported for Calca-Cusco (Tropicos, 2016), where E. yanatilense is here reported, Epidendrum physopus Kraenzl. and Epidendrum repens Cogn. have reported small sizes to 4.8" [12 cm] long. Nonetheless, none of them shares the distinct set attributes of E. yanatilense, i.e. small plant 2" [5 cm tall}; 3-lobed lip; and two, laminar, rhomboid, leaning inwards calli.

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Phytotaxa 246 (4): 287–292 Damian & Hagsater 2016 drawing fide; Icones 16[1] Plate 1667 Damian & Hagsater 2016 Drawing/photo fide

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