Habenaria macraithii Lavarack 1984 SECTION Acuiferae
Photo by © R Tunstall and the Australian Tropical Rainforest Orchids Website
TYPE Drawing by © Mair Swann & Bruce Gray/Lavarack 1984 and the Australian Tropical Rainforest Orchids Website
Common Name Macraith's Habenaria - In Australia The Whiskered Rein Orchid
Flower Size .8 to .96" [2 to 2.4 cm]
Found in northern tropical Queensland state of Australia on levee banks in overflow beds of streams at elevations of 50 to 150 meters as a medium sized, hot growing terrestrial with cylindrical tubers giving rise to an erect, leafy throughout stem carrying 7 to 11, well spaced along the stem, bluish green, 3 veined leaves that blooms in the winter on an erect, 12 to 24" [30 to 60 cm] long, 15 to 20 flowered inflorescence with attenuate-acuminate, longer than the ovary floral bracts.
"Closely related to 2 New Guinea species, H dryadum and H dracaenifolia which both have rosettes of leaves while H macraithii has widely spaced leaves. there are also floral differences, most notably the posterior lobe of the petals which has a prominent auricle in H macraithii as well as the stigmaphores which are shorter than the anther canals vs longer in H dryadum and about the same length in H dracaenifolia. The staminodes in H macraithii are considerably larger than in either of these species. Among Australian species it is close to H hymenophylla but readily distinguished by the larger size and by numerous floral characters, most notably the petals which feature an anterior lobe slightly longer than the posterior in H macraithii and an anterior lobe that is much shorter than the posterior in H hymenophylla." Laavarack 1984
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos,Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Orchadian 7: 278 Lavarack 1984;
Native Orchids of Australia Jones 2006 photo fide
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