Habenaria splendens Rendle 1895 SECTION Multipartitae Kraenzl.
Photos courtesy of © Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz
Drawing by © Graham Williamson
LATER
Common Name The Splendid Habenaria
Flower Size 2.5" [6.25 cm]
Found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia in grasslands and upland woodland margins at elevations of 1270 to 2100 meters as a medium to just large sized, cool to cold growing terrestrial with ovoid to ellipsoid tubers giving rise to an erect leafy stem carrying 6 to 12, the lowest sheath-like, the next few ovate, acute, loosely funnel-shaped basally, dark green with 3 prominent longitudinally veined leaves that blooms in the summer on an erect, 4 to 8.8" [10 to 22 cm] long, fairly laxly 4 to 20 flowered inflorescence with ovate-lanceolate,acute, ciliate at the apex and along the margins, much longer than the ovary floral bracts and carrying fragrant flowers with the sepals pale green and the lip white.
"Very near H macrantha but differs in having slightly narrower, more spreading leaves, slightly larger flowers with larger sepals, narrower longer lateral petals and the lip bispidulous on the uppewr surface with an almost filiform, median segment. The bracts are shoreter and more ovate, while the spur exceeds the ovary in length." Rendle 1895
Synonyms Kryptostoma splendens (Rendle) Szlach. 1995; Ochyrorchis splendens (Rendle) Szlach. 2004
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 30: 395 Rendle 1895
Flora of Tropical East Africa Part 1 Summerhayes 1968;
The Orchids of South Central Africa: 43 Williamson 1977
The Orchids of South Central Africa: fig 16 #11 Williamson 1977 drawing fide;
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids Pridgeon 1992;
The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Launert & Cribb 1992 photo fide;
Fragm. Florist. Geobot., Suppl. 3: 114 Szlach 1995 as Kryptostoma splendens
Flora Zambesiaca Volume 11 Part one Pope 1995 photo fide;
Manual Of Orchids Stewart 1995;
Orchids of Kenya Stewart 1996 photo fide;
African Orchids in the Wild and Cultivation La Croix 1997 drawing/photo fide;
Richardiana 4: 55 Szlach 2004 as Ochyrorchis splendens
Field Guide to the Ethiopian Orchids Demissew, Cribb & Rasmussen 2004 drawing/photo fide;
Orchidaceae of West Central Africa Vol 1: 206 Szlatchecko etal 2010 as Ochyrorchis splendens drawing fide
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