Habenaria armatissima Rchb.f. 1881 SECTION Diphyllae Kraenzl. Photos courtesy of © Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz and their Website

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 Rchb.f 1881; 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; Orchids of Kenya Stewart & Campbell 1996 photo fide; Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzweil 1999 photo fide; 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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