Habenaria chirensis Rchb.f. 1881 SECTION Replicatae Kraenzl.
Photos courtesy of © Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz
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Common Name The Shire' Habenaria [refers to an area of Ethiopia]
Flower Size 1" [2.5 cm]
Found in Nigeria, Cameroon, Zaire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in damp grasslands, swamps, marshes and wet places at elevations of 1100 to 2600 meters as a small to giant sized, cool to cold growing, glabrous terrestrial with an erect, leafy throughout stem carrying 7 to 13, linear to lanceolate-linear, depressed nerved, smaller above leaves that blooms in the late spring through early fall on an erect, 2.4 to 12" [6 to 30 cm] long, spirally arranged, 12 to many flowered inflorescence with lanceolate, shorter than the ovaries floral bracts and carrying foul smelling, green with white processes and auricled flowers
Synonyms Bilabrella chirensis (Rchb.f.) Szlach. & Kras-Lap. 2003; Bilabrella limpophila (Summerh.) Szlach. & Kras 2009; Habenaria limnophila Summerh.1931
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Otia Botanica Hamburgensia : 99 Rchb.f 1881;
Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1931: 381 Summerhayes 1931 as H limnophila;
Flora of Tropical East Africa Part 1 Summerhayes 1968;
Flore D'Afrique Centrale [Zaire- Rwands - Burundi] Orhidaceae Premeir parte Geerink 1984 drawing fide;
Orchids of East Africa Piers 1968;
Orchids of Kenya Stewart and Campbell 1996;
Richardiana 3: 139 Szlach. & Kras-Lap 2003 as Bilabrella chirensis
Field Guide to Ethiopian Orchids Demissew, Cribb and Rasmussen 2004 drawing fide;
Richardiana 9: 158 Szlach. & Kras-Lap 2009 as Bilabrella limpophila
Orchidaceae of West Central Africa Vol 1 Szlatchecko etal 2010 as Bilabrella chirensis drawing ok
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