Epidendrum platypetalonocturnum Hágsater & L.Sánchez 2016 GROUP Nocturnum

Drawing by © R Jimenez and The AMO Herbaria Website

EARLY

Common Name The Broad Petal E nocturnum Epidendrum

Flower Size 3.6” [9 cm]

Found in northern Peru on the Cordillera Azul at elevations around 1600 meters as a small sized, cool growing terrestrial with simple, ,cane-like, laterally compressed, ancipitous towards the apex stem carrying 5, all along the apical 3/4’s of the stem, ovate-elliptic, bilobed, evident dorsal keel, margin entire leaves that blooms in early fall on a terminal, without a spathe, racemose, successively single, many flowered inflorescence with very small, much shorter than the ovary floral bracts and carrying resupinate, pure white flowers with no data on fragrance.

"Epidendrum platypetalonocturnum belongs to the GROUP Nocturnum which is characterized by the sympodial, caespitose plants, short, racemose or pluri-racemose inflorescence, without spathaceous bracts, usually large, star-shaped flowers, with similar sepals and petals, and the Nocturnum Subgroup which has cane-like stems, nonthickened towards the middle, and usually successive flowers; the flowers are mostly indistinguishable in shape. The species is recognized by the laterally compressed stems, ancipitose towards the apex, flowers described by the collector as “pure white”, ovary 2.6" [65 mm] long, sepals and petals comparatively wide, sepals narrowly ovate 1.6 to 1.76" x .34 to .36" [40 to 44 x 8.5 to 9.0 mm] long, petals adnate to the base of the column. Other species in the nocturnum group have the petals totally free of the column, sepals and petals linear-lanceolate, and generally not white, but greenish to yellow to brownish, only the lip and column white, the calli usually yellow, and the mid-lobe, linear, acuminate. Epidendrum tridens has the ovary 2.4 to 4" [60 to 100 mm] long, narrower floral segments, sepals 1.8 to 3" x .2 to .32" [42 to 75 x 5 to 8 mm], green to yellow; petals .1 to .12" [2.5 to 3.0 mm] wide, linear lanceolate, free from the column. Epidendrum nocturnum Jacq. is widely distributed from Florida to Bolivia, has terete stems, ovary 2 to 2.8" [50 to 70 mm] long, about as long as the sepals which are 1.4 to 3" [35 to 75 mm] long, petals free from the column and narrower, 1.6 to 2.4" x .08 to .12" [40 to 60 x 2 to 3 mm], column .6 to .8" [15 to 20 mm] long, body of capsule occupying nearly the full length, centered." Hagsater etal 2015

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Orchidacearum15 [2] Plate 1591 Hagsater & Sanchez 2015 drawing fide;

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