Habenaria letestuana Szlach. & Olszewski 1998 SECTION Ceratopetalae Kranzl.

Drawing by © Margonska 2010

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Common Name Le Testu's Habenaria [Original Collector of the type species current]

Flower Size

Found in the Central African Republic at elevations of 500 to 750 meters as a giant sized, warm growing terrestrial witha single cylindrical tuber giving rise to an erect, relatively delicate, glabrous, leafy throughout stem carrying 8, broadly ovate, acute, suberect, decreasing in size up the stem leavs that blooms in the late spring on an erect, tereminal, 6.8" [17 cm] long, loosely 6 flowered inflorescence with glabrous, just shorter than the ovary floral bracts and carrying white flowers.

"Similar to H laurentii and H clavata but H letestuana differs from H laurentii in the truncate rostellum middle lobe, the lip side lobes shorter than the middle one and he spur being swollen in the apical third. From H clavata it differs in the longer stigmaphores [.67 [17 mm] long, versus .32 to .48" [8 to 12 mm] and the lip trilobed almost to the base." Szlatchecko etal 2010

Synonyms Ceratopetalorchis letestuana (Szlach. & Olszewski) Szlach., Górniak & Tukallo 2003

References W3 Tropicos,Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

* Fl. Cameroun 34: 159 Szlach. & Olszewski 1998;

Richardiana 3: 162 Szlach., Górniak & Tukallo 2003 as Ceratopetalorchis letestuana

Orchidaceae of West Central Africa Vol 1: 267 Szlatchecko etal 2010 as Ceratopetalorchis letestuana

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