Habenaria praestans Rendle 1895 SECTION Multiparitae
Photos by Bart Wursten ©, and his Flora Of Zimbabwe WebSite
LATE
EARLY
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
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 ; 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; Flore D'Afrique Centrale [Zaire- Rwands - Burundi] Orhidaceae Premeir parte Geerink 1984 drawing fide; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Part 1 Pope 1995; African Orchids in the Wild and Cultivation La Croix 1997 drawing/photo fide; 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; Terrestrial African Orchids, A select Review John S. Ball 2009 drawing fide; Orchidaceae of West Central Africa Vol 1 Szlatchecko etal 2010 as Ochyrorchis praestans drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 84 #10 2015 photo fide;
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