Habenaria praestans Rendle 1895 SECTION Multiparitae

Plant In Situ Zimbabwe

Photos by Bart Wursten ©, and his Flora Of Zimbabwe WebSite

Drawing

Drawing by © G Williamson

LATEEARLY

Common Name The Outstanding Habenaria

Flower Size 1.6" [4 cm]

Found in Burundi, Rwanda, Zaire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe in montane grasslands, forests edges, briars and brackens at elevations of 1200 to 2400 meters as a large to giant sized, cool to cold growing terrestrial with ovoid to ellipsoid tubers giving rise to a leafy stem carrying to 9, with the largest, broadly lanceolate, 5 nerved, plicate, acute leaves near the base and decreasing in size on up the stem that blooms in the late summer and early fall on a erect, terminal, 4 to 8" [10 to 20 cm] long, densely 4 to 30 flowered inflorescence carrying pleasantly scented flowers.

"The variety Habenaria praestans var. umbrosa differs from the type in occuring in dark, wet, relict forests instead of the open uplands and montane grasslands and has a more lax inflorescence carrying fewer flowers with more promionent and leaf-like floral bracts always longer than the flowers. The flowers are generrally smaller in all aspects with the lateral lobes of the lip held at right angles to the middle lobe. The lateral lobe filaments are always fewer and the spur is much shorter than the lip midlobe. The stamonodes are not as stalked and the flowers are more luminescentespecially the white of the petals,l lip and anther connectives." G williamson 1982

Synonyms Habenaria ctenophora Schltr. 1915; Habenaria praestans var. umbrosa G.Will. 1982; Kryptostoma praestans (Rendle) Szlach. 1995; Kryptostoma praestans var. umbrosum (G.Will.) Szlach. & Olszewski 1998; Ochyrorchis praestans (Rendle) Szlach. 2004; Ochyrorchis praestans var. umbrosa (G.Will.) Szlach. 2004

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

*J. Bot. 33: 203 Rendle 1895

Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 53: 500 Schlechter 1915 as H ctenophora

Bot. Mus. Leafl. 10(9): 269 Summerhayes 1942

Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965;

Flora of Tropical East Africa Part 1 Summerhayes 1968;

Orchids of East Africa Piers 1968;

The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977 drawing/photo fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 47 No 10 1978 photo fide;

J. S. African Bot. 48: 11 G Williamson 1982 as Habenaria praestans var. umbrosa

Flore D'Afrique Centrale [Zaire- Rwands - Burundi] Orhidaceae Premeir parte Geerink 1984 drawing fide;

Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Part 1 Pope 1995;

Fragm. Florist. Geobot., Suppl. 3: 114 Szlach 1995 as Kryptostoma praestans

African Orchids in the Wild and Cultivation La Croix 1997 drawing/photo fide;

Fl. Cameroun 34: 231 Szlatchecko & Olszewski 1998 as Kryptostoma praestans var. umbrosum

Genera Orchidacearum Vol 2 Part One Pridgeon, Cribb, Chase and Rasmussen 2001 photo fide;

Genera Orchidacearum Vol 2 Orchidoideae [Part one] Pridgeon, Cribb, Chase and Rasmussen 2001 drawing fide;

Botanica's Orchids Laurel Glen 2002 Photo fide;

Field Guide to the Ethiopian Orchids Demissew, Cribb & Rasmussen 2004 photo/drawing fide;

Richardiana 4: 55 Szlach 2004 as Ochyrorchis praestans

Richardiana 4: 55 Szlach 2004 as praestans var. umbrosa

Terrestrial African Orchids, A select Review John S. Ball 2009 drawing fide;

Orchidaceae of West Central Africa Vol 1: 205 Szlatchecko etal 2010 as Ochyrorchis praestans drawing fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 84 #10 2015 photo fide;

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