Habenaria irwiniana J.A.N.Bat. & Bianch. 2017 SECTION Humilis

Photo by © J.A.N. Batista/TYPE Drawing by MArie Helen Burian and The Semantic Scholar Website

Common Name Irwin's Habenaria [American Orchid Collector in Brazil 1900's]

Flower Size

Found in the federal district and Goias state of Brazil in seasonally to permanently wet grasslands, in dark sandy–clay soils, at elevations of 1100 to 1600 meters as a small sized, cool growing terrestrial with an erect, terete stem carrying 2 basal, larger one linear, 1.2" [3 cm] long, leaf, smaller bractlike, 2, well spaced, bract held below the middle, that blooms in the late spring and summer on an erect, terete, strict, .8 to 3.2" [2 to 8 cm] long, 1 to 10 flowered inflorescence with elliptical to oblong, caudate to subcaudate, shorter than the pedicellate ovary floral bracts and carrying green flowers.

"Habenaria irwiniana, is similar to H. campylogyna in terms of their habits, but the two species differ in the lengths and widths of the leaves .32 to 2 by .06 to .08" [8 to 50 by 1.5–2 mm in H. irwiniana vs 1.4 to 4.2" by .08 to .16" [35 to 105 by 2 to 4 mm] in H. campylogyna), lengths and directions of the rostelum arms .02 to .032" [.5 to .8 mm] long and convergent in H. irwiniana vs .01" [2.5 mm] long and slightly divergent towards the apices in H. campylogyna, and the positions of their stigmatophores, closely parallel and in contact with each other in H. irwiniana vs separate in H. campylogyna. In terms of flower morphology, particularly of the gynostemium, H. irwiniana is similar to other species such as H. alpestris, H. secundiflora , H. balansae, and H. melanopoda , being characterized by a slender habit, linear leaves, small flowers, stigmatophores closely parallel, and hemipollinaria joined by the viscidia. It is distinct from all these taxa, however, by having its leaves concentrated at the base of the stem, versus spaced along the stem with the largest leaves usually concentrated in the middle of the stem. In terms of general flower morphology, H. irwiniana is also similar to H. ayangannensis, although the latter species has linear-filiform leaves spaced along the stem, overlapping flowers, and separate hemipollinaria."JAN Batista and Biannch.2017

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

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* Pl. Syst. Evol. 303: 882 JAN Batista and Biannch.2017 photo/drawing fide

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