Habenaria zambesina Rchb.f. 1881 SECTION Seticauda
Photo by Fracisco Perez-Vera
Photo courtesy of © Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz
Drawing by © Kowalkowska
Common Name The Zambesi River Habenaria
Flower Size .8" [2 cm]
Found in Senegal, Benin, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Siera Leone, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Guinea, Gabon, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Zaire, Burundi, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe in wet grasslands and Dambos at elevations of 600 to 1550 meters as a medium sized, warm to cool growing terrestrial with a leafy stem carrying 8 to 9, lowest few loosely sheath-like, the rest, ovate, acute, light green, undulate margins loosely clasping basally leaves that blooms in the late spring and summer on an erect, 4.4 to 10" [11 to 25 cm] long, densely many flowered inflorescence with lanceolate, acute, longer than the ovary floral bracts.
Synonyms Habenaria baoulensis A.Chev. 1920; Habenaria haullevilleana De Wild. 1903; Habenaria myriantha Kraenzl. 1903; Habenella zambesina (Rchb.f.) Szlach. & Kras-Lap. 2006; Platantheroides zambesina (Rchb.f.) Szlach. 2004
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Otia Botanica Hamburgensia: 96 Rchb.f 1881;
Notizbl. Königl. Bot. Gart. Berlin 3: 237 Kraenzlin 1903 as H myrtiantha;
Ann. Mus. Congo Belge, Bot., sér. 4, 1: 172 De Wild. 1903 as H haullevilleana
Explor. Bot. Afrique Occ. Franç. 1: 620 A Chev. 1920 as H baoulensis not validly publ.
West African Lilies and Orchids Morton 1961;
AOS Bulletin Vol 32 # 10 1963;
Flora of Tropical East Africa Part 1 Summerhayes 1968;
Orchids of East Africa Piers 1968;
The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977 drawing ok;
Orchids of the Central African Republic A Provisional Checklist Cribb & Fay 1986;
Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Orchidaceae Part 1 Pope 1995;
Orchids of Kenya Stewart 1996;
Les Orchidees de Cote d'Ivorie Perez-Vera 2003 drawing fide;
Field Guide to Ethiopian Orchids Demissew, Cribb & Rasmussen 2004 photo fide;
Flore du Gabon Vol 36 Szlachetko etal 2004 drawing fide;
Richardiana 4: 108 Szlach 2004 as Platantheroides zambesina
Richardiana 6: 39 Szlach. & Kras-Lap. 2006 as Habenella zambesina
Orchidaceae of West Central Africa Vol 1: 130 Szlatchecko etal 2010 as Habenella zambesina drawing fide
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