Habenaria aitchisonii Rchb.f. 1886 SECTION Diphyllae Kraenzl.

Photo by © Naresh Swami

Plant and Flowers in situ China

Photo by Sun Hang © and Courtesy of the Flora of Pakistan Website

Plant in situ Pakistan

Photo by © Renz

EARLY

Common Name Aitchison's Habenaria [English Physiscian and Botanist in India 1800's] - In China Luo Di Jin Qian

Flower Size .2 to .28" [5 to 7 mm]

Found in Afghanistan, Pakistan, western Himalayas, Chinese Himalayas, eastern Himalayas and Nepal in open forests on sandstone at elevations of 3000 to 3950 meters as a miniature to medium sized, cold growing terrestrial with cylindric tubers giving rise to 2, basal, adpressed to the ground, subopposite, orbicular to broadly ovate, acute, sessile, thick, softly glandular-pubescent leaves with adpressed, lanceolate, acute stem bracts above that blooms in the summer and early fall on an erect, subsecund, subdensely many flowered, 1.4 to 8" [3.5 to 20 cm] long, inflorescence with lanceolate, acute floral bracts and carrying erect, adpressed to the rachis, fragrant flowers.

Synonyms Habenaria bihamata Kraenzl. 1921; Habenaria diceras Schltr.1912; Habenaria diceras var. pubicaulis (Schltr.) Soó 1929; Habenaria pubicaulis Schltr.1924

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

*Trans. Linn. Soc. London, Bot. 3: 113 Rchb.f 1886

The Orchids of Sikkim-Himalaya Part 1 King & Pantling 1898 drawing fide plant ok;

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

The Orchids of North-Western Himalaya Vol IX Part II Duthie 1906 drawing ok;

Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 5: 101 Schlechter 1912 as H diceras

Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 17: 106 Kraenzlin 1921 as H bihamata

Acta Horti Gothob. 1: 139 Schlechter 1924 as H pubicaulis

Ann. Hist.-Nat. Mus. Natl. Hung. 26: 370 Soo 1929 as H diceas var pubicaulis

Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965;

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

Acta Phytotax. Sin. 22: 314 K Y Lang 1984 as H wolongensis;

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

Orchids of Kumaun Himalayas Pangtey, Samant and Rawat 1991;

Beautiful Orchids of Nepal Rajbhandari & Bhattarai 2001 photo fide;

Orchids of Bhutan Pearce & Cribb 2002;

Orchids of India A Glimpse Misra 2007;

A Field Guide to the Orchids of China Singchi, Zhongjian, Yibo, Xiaohua and Zhanhuo 2009 photo fide;

Flora of China Vol 25 Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2009;

Flora of China Vol 25 Illustrations Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2010 drawing fide;

The Wild Orchids in Yunnan Xu Xiang Ye & Liu 2010 photos ok;

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

Terrestrial Orchids Swami 2016 photo fide;

Atlas of Native Orchids of China Vol 1 Jin Xiaohua, Li Jianwu and Ye Deping 2019 photo fide;

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