Epidendrum aromoense, a new epiphytic orchid found in very dry and seasonally foggy coastal forests, Manabi province, western Ecuador, is here described and illustrated. It is similar to Epidendrum tulcanense. It is characterized by the caespitose habit, simple stems, leaves oblong-lanceolate, coriaceous, bilobed and an elongate peduncle of the erect pluriracemose inflorescence, the flowers are red, the sepals about 9 mm long, the petals oblanceolate, the lip is square in outline, deeply 3-lobed, the lateral lobes dolabriform, the terminal lobe ending in a pair of divaricate, narrow, triangular acute, bifurcate teeth, the callus is orange, 5-tuberculate, ending in an acute, V-shape, keeled apex. This is the only red-flowered Epidendrum known from the lowlands of Ecuador. A conservation status of endangered, EN B1ab(iii), is provided for this species of great ornamental potential.
How to translate text using browser tools
31 December 2014
Epidendrum aromoense (Orchidaceae, Laeliinae), a New Species from the Coastal Dry Forests in Western Ecuador
Xavier Cornejo,
Eric Hágsater
ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE
Harvard Papers in Botany
Vol. 19 • No. 2
December 2014
Vol. 19 • No. 2
December 2014
coastal dry forest
Ecuador
endemic
Epidendrum aromoense
IUCN Red List
ORCHIDACEAE