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Epidendrum aromoense (Orchidaceae, Laeliinae), a new species from the coastal dry forests in western Ecuador

Abstract:

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 B lab(iii), is provided for this species of great ornamental potential.