Habenaria debeerstiana Kraenzl.1900 SECTION Diphyllae Kraenzl. Photo courtesy of © Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz and their Website

Common Name De Beerst's Habenaria

Flower Size 1.2" [3 cm]

Found in Zaire, Burundi, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe in woodlands in stony soils and at the edge of dambos at elevations of 1050 to 1350 meters as a medium sized, cool growing terrestrial with an erect stem carrying 2 basal, adpressed to the ground, cordate leaves and 4 to 7 sheath-like leaves above that blooms in the summer on an erect, 4.4" to 7.2" [11 to 17 cm] long, laxly to 20 flowered inflorescence carrying sweetly scented flowers.

Very close to H nicholsonii and H odorata but consistently can be keyed out separately so we maintain their separate status. This species always has 2 leaves, has more flowers than the others and almost always has a short [less than 1 cm] spur, H odorata has one fleshy basal leaf, and the stem sheaths are longer and looser than the other 2 species, and lastly H nicholsonii has larger flowers and 2 leaves. If these do all turn out to be conspecific then H nicholsonii takes precedence.

Synonyms Habenaria nicholsonii var. debeerstiana (Kraenzl.) Geerinck 1982; Habenaria tiesleriana Kraenzl.1909

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Flora of Tropical East Africa Part 1 Summerhayes 1968; The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977 drawing ok; Flore D'Afrique Centrale [Zaire- Rwands - Burundi] Orhidaceae Premeir parte Geerink 1984 drawing ok; Flora Zambesiaca Volume 11 Part one Pope 1998; Orchidaceae of West Central Africa Vol 1 Szlatchecko etal 2010

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