Habenaria seticauda Lindl. ex Benth.1843 SECTION Seticauda TYPE for this section
Drawing by © Joćo A. N. Batista; Joćo Batista F. da Silva; Luciano de Bem Bianchetti and the The genus Habenaria (Orchidaceae) in the Brazilian Amazon
LATE
Common Name The Bristley Tail Habenaria
Flower Size 1.2" [3 cm]
Found in French Guiana, Guyana, and northern Brazil in wet savannahs as a large sized, hot to warm growing terrestrial with an erect stem enveloped by spaced, lanceolate, acute, amplexicaul, 3 nerved leaves that gradually decrease in size above that blooms in the late spring and summer on a terminal, erect, 4 to 10" [10 to 25 cm] long, subdense to sublax, many flowered inflorescence with leaflike, ovoid, obtuse, acuminate, three nerved, as long as the ovary and pedicel floral bracts and carrying greenish white flowers.
+"The length of the spur of H. seticauda is similar to H hamata , and we first suspected they were conspecific. Accordingly, material of H. hamata from French Guiana (Cremers & Hoff 10717) was identified by Renz (1992) as H. seticauda. However, examination of material from Venezuela and Roraima in Brazil showed that H. seticauda is a distinct entity and in fact very similar to H obtusa . The two taxa differ basically in the length of the spur, which is longer in H. seticauda (3.2 to 3.6" [8 to 9 cm]) than in H. obtusa (1.2 to 2" [3 to 5 cm]). Besides this, the only other difference is that H. seticauda is restricted to the Guianas shield while H. obtusa has a broad distribution. Considering the differences above, we prefer to keep the two entities as separate species, although the collection of material (G. Eiten & L. Eiten 3869 SP) with spurs of intermediate length (2.4 to 2.8" [6 to 7 cm]) at the state of Maranhćo suggests that the separation of the two entities at the species level may not be justifiable. This is the first confirmed report of the species in Brazil, and other previous reports (Hoehne 1940, Pabst & Dungs 1975, Silva et al. 1995, Silva & Silva 2004) were based in misidentification. The lateral sepals are green, the dorsal sepal is white with a green base, petals are white and the lip is green with a white base. The spur has a white base and becames green towards the apex. The species occurs in open dry places or at the border of forests.
Synonyms Habenella seticauda (Lindl. ex Benth.) Szlach. & Kras-Lap. 2006; Platantheroides seticauda (Lindl. ex Benth.) Szlach. 2004
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* London J. Bot. 2: 673 Lindley 1843
Flora Brasilica Vol XII I Hoehne 1940 drawing ok;
Orchidaceae Brasilenses Band 1 Pabst and Dungs 1975 drawing fide;
Richardiana 4: 108 Szlach 2004 as Platantheroides seticauda
Richardiana 6: 38 Szlach. & Kras-Lap. 2006 as Habenella seticauda
Orquideas de Roirama Luz & Franco 2012 photo good;
Orchids of French Guiana Szlachetko, Veyret, Mytnik-ejsmont, Sawicka, Rutkowski and Baranov 2012 as Habenella seticauda drawing ok;
Materials to the Orchid Flora of Colombia Vol 1: 102 Szlachetko & Kolanowska 2017 as Habenella seticauda drawing fide
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