Habenaria mirabilis Rolfe 1898 SECTION Macrurae
Photo by © Caroline Conradie and © The I Naturalist Website
Drawing by © Carson and © The Royal Botanic Garden Kew Website
EARLY 
Common Name The Beautiful Habenaria
Flower Size
Found in Zaire, Zambia and Tanzania in swamps and marshes sometimes in standing water at elevations of 1500 to 1740 meters as a small to medium sized, cool growing terrestrial with ellipsoid tubers giving rise to an erect, slender, glabrous stem carrying 3 to 6, lowermost 1 to 2 sheathing, the middle, clasping, lanceolate, acute, grading into bracts above leaves that blooms in the early summer on a 4.8" [12 cm] long, densely few to several flowered inflorescence with lanceolate to ovate, acute, leafy, glabrous, shorter than the ovary floral bracts and carrying sweetly scented, white and green flowers.
Separated from all others in the genus by the very short spur barley reaching .6" [1.5 cm] long.
Synonyms Habenaria insignis Rolfe 1898; Macrura mirabilis (Rolfe) Szlach. & Sawicka 2003
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Fl. Trop. Afr. 7: 572 Rolfe 1898
Fl. Trop. Afr. 7: 234 Rolfe 1898 as H insignis nom. illeg.
Flora of Tropical East Africa Orchidaceae Part 1 Summerhayes 1968;
The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977 drawing fide;
Flore D'Afrique Centrale [Zaire- Rwands - Burundi] Orhidaceae Premeir parte Geerink 1984 drawing fide;
Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Orchidaceae Part 1 Pope 1995 drawing fide; Orchidee (Hamburg) 54: 332 Szlach. & Sawicka 2003 as Macrura mirabilis
Orchidaceae of West Central Africa Vol 1: 243 Szlatchecko etal 2010 as Macrura mirabilis drawing fide
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