Lepanthes erepsis Luer & Hirtz 1986 GENUS Lepanthes SUBGENUS Brachycladium SECTION Amplectentes Luer 1994
Photo by © Alexander Hirtz
TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer
and
Common Name or MeaningThe Roof Lepanthes [alluding to the broad, concave dorsal sepal]
Flower Size .4" [1 cm]
Found in southern Ecuador in cloud forests on the eastern slopes at elevations of 2000 to 2450 meters as a small to medium sized cold growing epiphyte with pendant, ocasionally branching, to 12" [30 cm] long chain of slender ramicauls enveloped by a close, lepanthiform sheath and carrying a single, apical, pendant, coriaceous, long-pubescent, elliptical, subacute to obtuse, the rounded base cuneate into the petiolate base leaf that blooms in the spring and fall on an ascending .4" [1 cm] long, single flowered inflorescence.
"This species, a close relative of the variable L. pilosella, is known only from southern Ecuador. Vegetatively, L. erepsis is indistinguishable from L. pilosella. It is distinguished from the latter by the nine veins in the large, striped, suborbicular, concave dorsal sepal, one of the largest known in the subgenus. Usually seven veins are present in the dorsal of L. pilosella. The Most distinct features of L. erepsis are the narrowly acute petals with a pair of slender, acute basal lobes." Luer 1994
Synonyms Andinia erepsis (Luer & Hirtz) Karremans & S.V.Uribe 2017; Brachycladium erepse (Luer & Hirtz) Luer 2005; Neooreophilus erepsis (Luer & Hirtz) Archila 2009; Oreophilus erepsis (Luer & Hirtz) Archila 2009; Penducella erepsis (Luer & Hirtz) Luer 2010
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Die Orchidee 37(5): 215. Luer & Hirtz 1986 drawing fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum XI Systematics of Lepanthes Subgenus Brachycladium and Pleurothallis subgenus Aenigma, Elongatia and Kraenzlingella Luer 1994 drawing fide to the first photo; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 2 2001 drawing/photo fide to the first photo; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVII Dryadella and Acronia section Macrophyllae-Fasiculatae Luer 2005 as Brachycladium erepsis; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 5 2006 photo fide; Selbyana 29(2): 203 Archila 2009 as Oreophilus erepsis; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 74 #2 Luer 2010 as Penducella erepsis photo fide; Flora of Ecuador No 88 Lepanthes and affiliates Dodson & Luer 2011 as Penducella erepsis drawing fide to the first photo; Pleurothallids Neotropical Jewels Vol 1 Karremans & Viera 2020 as Andinia erepsis photo fide
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