Habenaria armatissima Rchb.f. 1881 SECTION Diphyllae Kraenzl. Photos courtesy of © Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz and their Website

Common Name The Most Armed Habenaria [refers to the flowers bristly appearance]

Flower Size 1" [2.5 cm]

Found in Mali, Nigeria, Chad, Zaire, Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana and Namimbia in forests, grasslands by streams and open marshy grasslands at elevations of 300 to 1650 meters as a medium to large sized, hot to warm growing terrestrial with 2, large, adpressed to the ground, broadly ovate to reniform, often somewhat coradate toweards the base, basal leaves andseveral smaller ones along the length of the stem that blooms in the spring and summer depending on location on an erect, [10 to 20 cm] long, closely 10 to many flowered inflorescence with lanceolate, shorter than the pedicel and ovary bracts.

Synonyms Arachnaria armatissima (Rchb.f.) Szlach. 2003; Habenaria dinteriana Kraenzl.1929; Habenaria eburnea Ridl. 1886; Habenaria lugardiae Rolfe 1898

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Field Guide to Ethiopian Orchids Demissew, Cribb and Rasmussen 2004

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