Habenaria malacophylla Rchb.f., Otia Bot. Hamburg.: 97 (1881).
Description:
Tubers 1.5-3 cm long, 0.5-2 cm in diameter, ovoid to ellipsoid. Stem 30-100 cm tall, erect, rather stout or delicate, glabrous, leafy. Leaves 7-19, 7-20 cm long, 2-5 cm wide, oblanceolate or obo-vate, acute, attenuate towards the base, spread, dark green, decreasing in size up the stem. Inflorescence 8-38 cm long, up to 70-flowered, lax at the bottom, dense at the apex. Flowers green. Floral bracts 9-20 mm long, narrowly lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, glabrous. Pedicel and ovary 10-17 mm long, glabrous. Dorsal sepal 3-7 mm long, 2.5-5 mm wide, broadly elliptic-ovate or orbicular, obtuse to subacute, thin, concave, glabrous. Petals bipartite nearly to the base, glabrous, thin; anterior lobe 5-9.5 mm long, 0.3-0.8 mm wide, filiform to linear, acute, upcurved; posterior lobe 4-7.3 mm wide, 0.4-1.5 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, acute, sometimes with small basal lobules, erect to slightly sigmoid. Lateral sepals 4-7.5 mm long, 2-4 mm wide, obliquely elliptic- to oblong-lanceolate, acute, thin, concave, glabrous. Lip distinctly three-lobed above the basal linear 0.5 mm, thin, glabrous; middle lobe 4.5-8 mm long, 0.8-1 mm wide, linear to filiform, acute; side lobes slightly longer, 0.3-0.5 mm wide, filiform, acute, widely spread. Spur 9-18 mm long, 0.8-1 mm in diameter, as long as or slightly longer than pedicel and ovary, filiform, gradually tapering towards the acute apex, falcate. Gynostemium 1.5-2 mm long, connective narrow, stigmaphores longer than antherophores.
Habitat:
Usually in upland rain-forests, in deep shade, often near streams, rarely in upland grassland. April-October.
Cultivation:
As given for the genus.
Distribution:
Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sao Tomé and Príncipe (Sao Tomé), the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire), Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Republic of South Africa. Alt. 600-2400.
References:
Orchidaceae of West-central Africa, vol. 1, Gdansk University Press Gdansk 2010, La Croix, I. et al. (1991). Orchids of Malawi A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Linder, H.P. & Kurzweil, H. (1999). Orchids of Southern Africa A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam; Flora of Tropical East Africa Summerhayes Orchidaceae Part 1 1968
Images:
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Photograph© Cameron McMaster. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Cameron McMaster. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Cameron McMaster. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Cameron McMaster. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Cameron McMaster. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Cameron McMaster. Image used with kind permission.