Habenaria clavata (Lindl.) Rchb.f. 1865 SECTION Ceratopetalae Kranzl 1892

Side View of Flower Photos courtesy of © Lourens Grobler

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Common Name The Club-Shaped Habenaria

Flower Size to 1" [to 2.5 cm

Found in Nigeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Zaire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanazania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe Lesotho, Swaziland, Cape Province, Natal, Orange Free State and Transvaal South Africa in swampy grasslands, along streams and sometimes in dry forests at elevationsof 1200 to 2300 meters as a small to large sized, cool growing terrestrial with ellipsoid to elongate-ovoid, more or less tomentose tubers giving rise to an erect, rather stout, leafy throughotu stem carrying 7 to 13, spreading, ovate to narrowly lanceolate leaves that blooms in the late spring and summer on a terminal, erect, 1.6 to 8" [4 to 20 cm] long, laxly, 5 to 20 flowered inflorescence with short bracts.

Synonyms Bonatea clavata Lindl 1836; Ceratopetalorchis clavata (Lindl.) Szlach., Górniak & Tukallo 2003

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Flora of Tropical East Africa Part 1 Summerhayes 1968; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Part 1 Pope 1995; Orchids of Kenya Stewart 1996; Field Guide to the Ethiopian Orchids Demissew, Cribb & Rasmussen 2004