Habenaria kraenzliniana Schltr., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 20(50): 35 (1895).
Description:
Plant 36 cm tall, rather erect. Leaves 8.5 x 0.7 cm, linear, acute, spread, the upper ones sheathlike, sparsely hairy on both surfaces. Inflorescence 6 cm long, 12-flowered, lax. Floral bracts 21 x 4 mm, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, hairy on external surface. Pedicel and ovary 11 mm long, slender. Dorsal sepal 7 x 2.5-3.0 mm, oblong-elliptic to oblong-obovate, shortly apiculate, blunt, concave, glabrous. Petals deeply bilobed, glabrous; anterior lobe 4 x 0.5 mm, linear-filiform, acute; posterior lobe wide, 3 x 2.1 mm, obliquely ovate, acute. Lateral sepals 7.5 x 5.5 mm, oblong-obovate, cochleate at apex which is 0.5 mm long, erect. Lip trilobed at base, glabrous; middle lobe 6 x 1-2 mm, obovate and thickened in the basal half, lanceolate and thinner above, acute; lateral lobes 2 x 0.4 mm, obliquely narrowly lanceolate at base, filiform above, acute. Spur 13 mm long, 1.6 mm in diameter at apex, cylindrical, slightly twisted near middle, distinctly swollen in apical third, blunt. Anther 3.1 mm long; connective truncate; antherophores 5 mm long, rather massive. Stigmaphores 4 mm long, narrowly cylindrical, truncate. Rostellum middle lobe 1.9 x 0.2 mm, shorter than the connective, linear-triangular, acute. Auricles bilobed, rather massive.
Etymology:
Dedicated to Friedrich (Fritz) Wilhelm Ludwig Kraenzlin (1847-1934), the author of the only published revision of the genus Habenaria.
Habitat:
Found on stony, grassy hillsides from 1000 to 1400 m.
Phenology:
Flowering from February to April.
Notes:
Unique in the genus for its peculiar lip morphology, especially for the obovate lower part of the middle lobe. Somewhat similar to Habenaria welwitschii., from which it may be distinguished by the form of the petals: the anterior petal lobe is linear and the posterior lobe is obliquely ovate, acute. Another species similar to Habenaria kraenzliniana Schltr.,appears to be Habenaria cribbiana Szlach. & Olszewski, but the form of the petals is quite different.
Cultivation:
As given for the genus.
Distribution:
S. Africa
References:
Hubert Kurzweil, Hans Peter Linder - Orchids of Southern Africa-1999
Images:
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In culture	In culture	In culture
Photograph© Lourens Grobler. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Lourens Grobler. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Lourens Grobler. Image used with kind permission.