Habenaria excelsa S.Thomas & P.J.Cribb 1996 SECTION Multipartitae Kraenzl.

TYPE Drawing © by Suanna Stuart Smith & P.J.Cribb

Common Name The Fine Habenaria [Refers to the Flowers]

Flower Size 1.2" [3 cm]

Found in northwestern Ethiopia in rock crevasses at elevations of 3150 to 3500 meters as a medium sized, cold growing terrestrial with a leafy stem carrying 5 to 7, linear-lanceolate leaves that blooms in the summer on a terminal, erect, 2 to 4" [5 to 10 cm] long, 3 to 5 flowered inflorescence with ovate-oblong floral bracts and carrying green with a yellow orange tint flowers.

H excelsa differs from H taeniodema by the smaller flowers with a .92 to 1" [2.3 to 2.5 cm] long dorsal sepal.

Synonyms Kryptostoma excelsum (S.Thomas & P.J.Cribb) Szlach. & Olszewski 1998; Pseudocoeloglossum excelsum (S.Thomas & P.J.Cribb) Szlach. 2003

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

*Kew Bull. 51: 147 S.Thomas & P.J.Cribb 1996

Fl. Cameroun 34: 230 Szlach 1998 as Kryptostoma excelsa;

Orchidee (Hamburg) 54: 335 Szlach. 2003 as Pseudocoeloglossum excelsum

Field Guide to Ethiopian Orchids Demissew, Cribb & Rasmussen 2004 drawing fide;

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