Habenaria schimperiana Hochst. ex A.Rich. 1850 SECTION Replicatae Kranzl 1892

Plant In Situ Zimbabwe Photos by Bart Wursten ©, and his Flora Of Zimbabwe WebSite

Common Name Schimper's Habenaria [German Plant Collector East Africa 1800's]

Flower Size 3/4" [2.1 cm]

Found in Gabon, Zaire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Yemen and Natal and Transvaal states of South Africa in grasslands and swamps in badly drained soils at elevations of 2500 to 2800 meters as a medium to giant sized, cold growing terrestrial with an erct stem carrying 6 to 10, suberect to spreading, all along the stem, linear to linear-lanceolate, decreasing in size ascending leaves that blooms in the winter on an erect, 2.4 to 14" [6 to 35 cm] long, 4 to many flowered inflorescence carrying foul smelling flowers.

Synonyms Bilabrella peltastes (Rchb.f.) Szlach. & Kras-Lap. 2003; Bilabrella schimperiana (Hochst. ex A.Rich.) Szlach. & Kras-Lap. 2003; Habenaria anomala Lindl. ex Kraenzl. 1893; Habenaria involuta Bolus 1889; Habenaria peltastes Rchb.f. 1881

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Flora of Tropical East Africa Part 1 Summerhayes 1968; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Part 1 Pope 1995; Orchids of Kenya Stewart 1996; Field Guide to the Ethiopian Orchids Demissew, Cribb & Rasmussen 2004