Habenaria trilobulata Schltr. 1899 SECTION Diphyllae Kraenzl 1892
Photos by Bart Wursten ©, and his Flora Of Zimbabwe WebSite
Drawing by ©, John S Ball
Common Name The Three-Lobed Habenaria
Flower Size .56" [1.4 cm]
Found in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Natal and Transvaal South Africa in open woodlands and dry bush at elevations of sealevel to 1100 meters as a small to just medium sized, hot to warm growing terrestrial with an erect, slender stem carrying 2, large, basal, opposite, adpresed to the ground, silvery blue green with reticulation, ovate to orbicular, cauline leaves with smaller bract-like leaves ascending on the stem that blooms in the winter on an erect, terminal, 1.2 to 4.4" [3 to 11 cm] long, 4 to 10 flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary floral bracts and carrying fragrant flowers.
Close to H armatissima and H kraenzliniana but differs in the slender habit and the shape of the uterine parts.
Synonyms Arachnaria trilobulata (Schltr.) Szlach. 2003; Habenaria quadrifila Schltr. 1915
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 26: 332 Schlechter 1899;
Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 53: 504 Schlecheter 1915 as H quadrifila Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982; Flora of Tropical East Africa Part 1 Summerhayes 1968; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Part 1 Pope 1995; Orchids of Kenya Stewart 1996; Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzweil 1999 photo fide; Richardiana 3: 157 Szlach 2003 as Arachnaria trilobulata Field Guide to the Orchids of Northern South Africa and Swaziland McMurty, Grobler, Grobler & Burns 2008 photos fide; Terrestrial African Orchids, A select Review John S. Ball 2009 drawing fide; Orchidaceae of West Central Africa Vol 1: 252 Szlatchecko etal 2010 as Arachnaria trilobulata drawing fide
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