Habenaria plantaginea Lindl.1835 SECTION Commelynifoliae Kraenzl 1893

Photo courtesy of © Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz

Drawing

Drawing by © Duthie 1906

LATE EARLY

Common Name The Platago-Like Habenaria [refers to it's similarity to the European Plantain which has similar leaves]

Flower Size .4 to .65" [1 to 1.6 cm]

Found in the western Himalayas, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, eastern Himalayas, Myanmar and Bali in moist deciduous forests at elevations around 850 to 2500 meters as a small to medium sized, warm to cold growing terrestrial with an ovoid-globose tuber giving rise to an erect, glabrous, bracteate stem carrying 3 to 7, sub basal, clustered, elliptic-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, subacute to acute, subsessile, basally clasping leaves that blooms in the late summer and early fall on an erect, laxly 5 to 9 flowered, glabrous, .8 to 2.8" [2 to 7 cm] long inflorescence with lanceolate, acuminate, largest towards the base, setaceous margined floral bracts carrying faintly fragrant flowers.

"Habenaria plantaginea and H brachyphylla appear similar in plant habit as both species have radical leaves well adpressed to the ground but H plantaginea has more than 2 leaves and they are elliptic and the flowers havr larger flabellate side lobes of the lip.

Synonyms Pecteilis plantaginea (Lindl.) M.A.Clem. & D.L.Jones 2018; Plantaginorchis plantaginea (Lindl.) Szlach. 2004

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

* Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl.: 323 Lindley 1835

The Orchids of North-Western Himalaya Vol IX Part II: 182 Duthie 1906

The Orchids of North-Western Himalaya Vol IX Part II: tab 132 Duthie 1906 drawing fide;

Orchid Culture in Ceylon and the East Price 1918/2003;

Orchids of Bombay Santapau & Kapadia 1966 Drawings fide;

Indian Orchids A Field Guide to Identification and Culture Vol 1 Pradhan 1976 drawing fide;

A Revised Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon Vol 2 Dassanayake & Fosberg 1981 drawing fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 54 No 3 1985;

Orchids of North West Himalaya Deva & Naithani 1986 drawing fide;

Orchids of Nilgris Joseph 1987 drawing fide;

Orchids of Kumaun Himalayas Pangtey, Samant and Rawat 1991;

Orchids of Bhutan Pearce & Cribb 2002;

Richardiana 4: 65 Szlach 2004 The Orchids of India A Glimpse Misra 2007 drawing ok;

Orchids of Odisha Misra 2014 drawing fide;

LANKESTERIANA 15(1): 7—50. Jeewan Singh Jalal & J. Jayanthi 2015 photo fide;

Lankesteriana Vol 18 [1]: 23–62 Jalal & Jayanth 2018;

Orchids of Maharashtra Jalal 2018 photo Fide;

Austral. Orchid Rev. 83(6): 53 M.A.Clem. & D.L.Jones 2018 as Pecteilis plantaginea

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