Habenaria laciniata Dalzell 1850 SECTION Habenaria
Photo by © B.T. Dangat and Nicholas Dalzell’s orchids in western India Sneha Bramhadande
Mayur Nandikar 2023
TYPE Drawing by © Dalzell
LATER
Common Name The Lacinate Habenaria
Flower Size
Found in the eastern Himalayas, India and the western Himalayas in semi-evergreen forests and dry deciduous forests at elevations of 400 to 900 meters as a small to medium sized, hot to warm growing terrestrial with 3 to 15, prominent, alternately arranged, ovate to oblong-lanceolate, acute, wavy margin leaves that blooms in the later summer on an erect, 2 to 6" [5 to 15 cm] long, lax, secund to non secund, several flowered inflorescence with pale green, longer than the flowers, ovate-lanceolate, acute to subacuminate and carrying white, scentless or diurnally foul scented [var foetida] flowers .
"Habernaria laciniata Dalzell (1850) which was overlooked and misinterpreted for long years, is resurrected here as the oldest available name for H. gibsonii Hook.f. (Hooker, 1890). Dalzell and Gibson (1861) erroneously synonymised Habenaria laciniata under H. foliosa A.Rich. (Richard, 1841) following Wight (1852, t. 1700), providing the description of the former species. It is evident that, Dalzell was not aware of the protologue of H. foliosa. As H. foliosa of Wight (1852, t. 1700) is contrary to H. foliosa A.Rich. in having filiform lip-lobes, greenish petal margins, and agrees more with H. gibsonii. Hooker (1890) followed the circumscription of H. laciniata appearing in Dalzell and Gibson (1861), and relegated H. foliosa as a variety of H. digitata Lindl. . He also stated that he had never seen the Salsette (part of Bombay) plant of Dalzell with spirally twisted posterior petal lobes and a broader mid-lobe. After careful study of the protologues of H. laciniata and H. foliosa, we found both to be taxonomically distinct. Habenaria laciniata has lanceolate acute leaves, shorter bracts, larger flowers, green petal lobes, filiform lip-lobes, a longer, broader mediallip, and a clavate spur, whereas H. foliosa has elliptic acute leaves, longer bracts, smaller flowers, pale white to white petal lobes, narrow, linear, sub-equal lip-lobes, and an inflated spur. Habenaria digitata Lindl. var. foliosa Hooker (1890) was placed under Habenaria gibsonii as a variety by Santapau and Kapadia (1966), which was an error, as Habenaria foliosa has priority over H. gibsonii. Habenaria gibsonii var. foliosa is circumscribed by deeply divided petal lobes and sub-equal recurved linear-subulate lip-lobes. Santapau and Kapadia (1966) have not commented upon H. laciniata, however, the species has been overlooked for a century, and erroneously placed either partly in H. foliosa (Dalzell & Gibson, 1861; Hooker, 1890), or H. digitata (POWO, 2023). It is evident here observing the protologues, original material, herbarium specimens , and live collections of H. digitata , H. foliosa and H. laciniata , these species share similarities in their floral characteristics like concave spreading dorsal sepals and bipartite petals. But H. foliosa differs from H. digitata and H. laciniata by its white to pale white sepals and petals, subequal linear-subulate lip-lobes, and inflated spur. H. digitata differentiated from H. laciniata by its tri-nerved leaves, pale green to yellowish green small flowers, comparatively shorter falcate included anterior petal lobes, linear-acute lip lobes with distinct mesochile, reflexed (right angle) lateral lobes, and a shorter faintly clavate spur (Fig. 3d). Habenaria gibsonii is conspecific to H. laciniata, hence relegated to synonymy. The former species was described based on greenish-white flowers, ovate obtuse dorsal sepals, oblong lateral sepals, filiform lip-lobes, a broader mid-lobe, and a clavate spur. These characters unequivocally agree with the description of H. laciniata, except for the shorter bract, and spirally twisted posterior lobes. The bract length often varies from equal to longer than the ovary, whereas spirally twisted posterior lobes of petals seem to be an error. Habenaria laciniata was often misinterpreted with its conspecific taxa, perhaps due to the absence of the original material. Nevertheless, a collection housed at BM of N.A. Dalzell’s drawings with the anonymous pencil annotation Habenaria in the bottom left corner and N.A. Dalzell in the bottom right corner, depicts the character of H. laciniata, is chosen here as a neotype." Sneha Bramhadande Mayur Nandikar 2023
Synonyms Habenaria digitata var. gibsonii (Hook.f.) C.E.C.Fisch. 1928; Habenaria foliosa var. gibsonii (Hook.f.) Bennet 1984; Habenaria gibsonii Hook.f. 1890
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Hooker's J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 2: 261 Hkr 1850
Fl. Brit. India 6: 135 Hkr. 1894 as H gibsoni;
Fl. Madras: 1469 C.E.C.Fisch. 1928 as H digitata var. gibsonii
Indian Orchids A Field Guide to Identification and Culture Vol 1 Pradhan 1976 as H gibsoni drawing good; J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 5: 452 Bennet1984 as H foliosa var gibsonii;
Orchids of Nilgris Joseph 1987 as H digitata var gibsonii;
Orchids of Nilgris Joseph 1987 as H digitata var foliosa;
Orchids of India A Glimpse Misra 2007 as H gibsonii photo hmm;
Nicholas Dalzell’s orchids in western India Sneha Bramhadande Mayur Nandikar 2023 photo fide
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