Habenaria rautaneniana Kraenzl. 1902 SECTION Mirandae Summerh. 1962 type for the section

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

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Common Name Rautanen's Habenaria [Finnish Missionary in Namimbia late 1800's early 1900's]

Flower Size 1" [2.5 cm]

Found in Ethiopiia, Tanazania, Angola, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namimbia and Transvaal South Africa in marshy places and seasonally flooded grassland, sometimes in shallow water at elevations of 1100 to 1550 meters as a large sized, warm growing terrestrial with ovoid to ellipsoid, densely tomentose tubers giving rise to an erect, slender to stout stem carrying thoughout, linear, acute leaves with sheathing at the base that blooms in the late spring and summer on an erect, 3.2 to 9.6" [8 to 24 cm] long, 6 to 35 flowered many-flowered inflorescence with lacneolate acuminate floral bracts that are shorter than the ovary and carrying flowers with an unpleasant night fragrance.

Synonyms Mirandorchis rautaneniana (Kraenzl.) Szlach. & Kras-Lap. 2003

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Flora of Tropical East Africa Part 1 Summerhayes 1968; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Part 1 Pope 1995; Field Guide to the Ethiopian Orchids Demissew, Cribb & Rasmussen 2004