Epidendrum ochoae Collantes & Hágsater 2015 GROUP Rupestre
TYPE Photo by Ochoa/ TYPE Drawing by © Collantes and The AMO Herbaria Website
LATE 
Common Name Ochoa’s Epidendrum [Peruvian Biologist and conservationist current]
Flower Size .4” [1 cm]
Found in Cusco department of Peru near Machu Picchu at elevations of 3200 to 3650 meters as a miniature to small sized, cold, pendent growing epiphyte with thickened, forming a thick, homoblastic, terete, fusiform, 3 internoded, green, minutely rugose, brilliant pseudobulb carrying 3, articulate, 2 from the basal and middle internode and one at the apex of the pseudobulb, lanceolate, mucronate, coriaceous, green, underside minutely rugose, margin entire leaves that blooms in the winter on a terminal, without a spathe, erect, racemose, occuring only once, pendent, peduncle 1.8” [4.5 cm] long, laterally compresssed, ancipitous, straight, rachis terete, straight, sulcate, successively several, 12 to 35 flowered inflorescence with about 1/3rd the length of the ovary, triangular, long-acuminate, dorsally granulose, yellow with irregular dotted floral bracts and carrying resupinate, yellowish green flowers with the sepals dorsally with irregular, pale purple dots, the lip with irregular purple dots and blotches, the calli with diffuse purple dots, the mid rib with irregular purple blotches and the column with irregular purple blotches.
"Epidendrum ochoae belongs to the GROUP Rupestre, which is characterized by the caespitose, sympodial plant, the pseudobulbous stems with 1 to 4 fully developed leaves toward the apex, and lack of spathes at the base of an erect, racemose or paniculate inflorescence, the lip ecallose or bicallose and with several fleshy thickened keels on the disc. The species is characterized by the epiphytic, pendulous, sympodial habit, the stem with a homoblastic pseudobulb, terete, constituted by 3 internodes, green, smooth, brilliant, the leaves lanceolate, mucronate, the lip deeply 3-lobed, with 2 prominent calli, upright, and with 3 prominent thickened ribs, the lateral ones in front of the calli, smaller than the mid-rib. Epidendrum pachydiscum Hágsater, described from Cusco Province, is overall very similar, though it has erect stems, the lip is ecallose, and the lateral lobes of the lip are much wider. Epidendrum megalocoleum Hágsater the entire lip, deeply emarginate and mucronate, ecallose, the disc with 3 well-defined, central keels, the lateral pair ending at about ¾ the length of the lip, the central keel staring at the middle of the lip and ending in the fleshy mucro. Epidendrum excelsum C. Schweinf. has smaller plants, narrower leaves, fewer flowers, an entire lip, with the margin deeply dentate, two calli at the base which are large but not upright, and the disc somewhat thickened into 3 very low ribs, but otherwise the habit is similar as well as the flowers." Hagsater etal 2015
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Icones Orchidacearum 15 [1] Plate 1525 Hagsater & Sanchez 2015 see recognition section; *Icones Orchidacearum 15 [1] Plate 1546 Collantes and Hagsater 2015 photo/drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum 15 [2] Plate 1570 Hagsater & Sanchez 2016 see recognition section;
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