Habenaria armatissima Rchb.f. 1881 SECTION Diphyllae Kraenzl.
Photo/drawing courtesy of © Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz
Common Name The Most Armed Habenaria [refers to the flowers bristly appearance]
Flower Size 1" [2.5 cm]
Found in Mali, Nigeria, Chad, Zaire, Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana and Namibia in forests, grasslands by streams and open marshy grasslands at elevations of 300 to 1650 meters as a medium to large sized, hot to cool growing terrestrial with 2, large, adpressed to the ground, broadly ovate to reniform, often somewhat cordate towards the base, basal leaves and several smaller ones along the length of the stem that blooms in the spring and summer, depending on location, on an erect, 4 to 8" [10 to 20 cm] long, closely 10 to many flowered inflorescence with lanceolate, shorter than the pedicel and ovary bracts.
Synonyms Arachnaria armatissima (Rchb.f.) Szlach. 2003; Habenaria dinteriana Kraenzl.1929; Habenaria eburnea Ridl. 1886; Habenaria lugardiae Rolfe 1898
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Otia Botanica Hamburgensia :98 Rchb.f 1881;
J. Bot. 24: 293 Ridley 1886 as H eburnea;
Fl. Trop. Afr. 7: 228 Rolfe 1898 as H lugardiae;
Vierteljahrsschr. Naturf. Ges. Zürich 74: 106 Kraenzlin 1929 as H dinteriana;
The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977;
Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982 photo fide;
Flore D'Afrique Centrale [Zaire- Rwands - Burundi] Orhidaceae Premeir parte Geerink 1984;
Flora Zambesaca Part 1 Pope 1995 drawing fide;
Orchids of Kenya Stewart & Campbell 1996 photo fide;
Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzweil 1999 photo fide;
Richardiana 3: 156 Szlachetko 2003 as Arachnaria armatissima;
Field Guide to Ethiopian Orchids Demissew, Cribb and Rasmussen 2004 photo fide;
Terrestrial African Orchids, A select Review John S. Ball 2009 drawing fide;
Orchidaceae of West Central Africa Vol 1 Szlatchecko etal 2010 as Arachnaria armatissima drawing fide
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