Habenaria clavata (Lindl.) Rchb.f., Flora 48: 180 (1865).
Homotypic Synonyms:
Bonatea clavata Lindl., Companion Bot. Mag. 2: 208 (1837).
Ceratopetalorchis clavata (Lindl.) Szlach., Górniak & Tukallo, Richardiana 3: 161 (2003).
Description:
A terrestrial herb 2-8 dm. high, glabrous except for the roots. Tubers ellipsoid or elongate-ovoid, 2-3.5 cm. long, 1-2 cm. in diameter, ± tomentose. Stem erect, rather stout, leafy, often densely so, throughout its length. Leaves 8-13, the lowermost 1-3 reduced to sheaths, the middle 4-5 suberect or ± spreading or recurved, ovate, elliptical-lanceolate or lanceolate, acute, the largest 7-13 cm. long and 1.5-4 cm. broad, the upper leaves smaller, ± adpressed to the stem, lanceolate, acute, similar to the bracts. Inflorescence 4-17 cm. long, 6-8.5 cm. in diameter, rather laxly 5-16-flowered. Bracts leafy, lanceolate, acute, 1.5-3.5 cm. long, distinctly shorter than the pedicel with ovary. Flowers upcurved, green with whitish centre; pedicel with ovary incurved, 3.5-4.5 cm. long. Dorsal sepal erect, very convex, ovate-elliptical, apiculate, 11-19 mm. long, 5-8 mm. broad; laterals deflexed, rolled up lengthwise, obliquely obovate, subacute with the apex on one side, 12-18 mm. long, 6-9 mm. broad. Petals bipartite nearly to the base; posterior (upper) lobe erect, adherent to the dorsal sepal, 9-15 mm. long, narrowly linear to filiform; anterior lobe curved upwards like a long horn, linear, acute, 2.5-4 cm. long, just over 1 mm. broad. Lip projecting forwards, tripartite from an undivided base ± 2 mm. long; middle lobe often ± incurved, linear, 17-23 mm. long; side lobes linear, 12-18 mm. long; all lobes scarcely 1 mm. broad; spur ± parallel to the ovary and pedicel, much swollen in the apical third or quarter, 3-5 cm. long. Anther erect, 4-6 mm. high, canals porrect with the apices upcurved, slender, 8.5-13 mm. long; stigmas porrect, suddenly thickened and truncate at the apex, canaliculate on upper surface, 8-12 mm. long.
Habitat:
Brachystegia woodland and upland grassland; 1100-1800 m.
Phenology:
Flowering throughout the year.
Cultivation:
As given for the genus, cool to cold growing terrestrial.
Distribution:
Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire), Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, South Africa.
References:
Orchidaceae of West-central Africa, vol. 1, Gdansk University Press Gdansk 2010; The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Part 1 Pope 1995; Flora of Tropical East Africa Part 1 Summerhayes 1968; Orchids of Kenya Stewart 1996; African Orchids: V V. S. Summerhayes, Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew), Vol. 1933, No. 5 (1933), pp. 246-254; An Interesting New Species of Habenaria from Ethiopia V. S. Summerhayes, Österreichische Botanische Zeitschrift, Vol. 113, No. 2 (1966), pp. 217-219
Images:
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Photograph© Lourens Grobler. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Lourens Grobler. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Lourens Grobler. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Lourens Grobler. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Lourens Grobler. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Lourens Grobler. Image used with kind permission.