Habenaria pseudociliosa Schelpe ex J.C.Manning, S. African J. Bot. 55: 193 (1989).
Description:
Plant slender to fairly robust, 240-470 mm. Leaves cauline, many, suberect, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, to 150 x 15 mm, sometimes almost pyramidal below the inflorescence, grading into the floral bracts; basal leaf sheaths conspicuously horizontally barred with black. Inflorescence dense, many-flowered; bracts lanceolate, acuminate, to 30 mm long, hispid along margins and midrib, partly concealing the flowers; ovary curved, subsessile, 10-12 mm long; flowers green, suberect. Sepals hispid along margins and veins abaxially; dorsal sepal erect, cucullate, ovate to broadly ovate, acute, 3-4,5 mm long; lateral sepals spreading, obliquely lanceolate, acute, 3,5-4,5 mm long. Petals simple, narrowly oblong, curved, obtuse or truncate, with an anterior basal lobe, c. as long as the dorsal sepal; lip tripartite, carnose, 4-5 mm long; lobes narrowly oblong, obtuse; lateral lobes shorter than the mid-lobe, 2-2,5 mm long; mid-lobe 2,5-4 mm long; spur inflated apically, longer than the ovary; 16-23 mm long. Anther emarginate, 1,5 mm tall; canals scarcely 0,5 mm long. Stigmas clavate, depressed, shortly adnate to the lip, c. 1 mm long; rostellum mid-lobe depressed ovate, scarcely 0,5 mm long, lateral lobes flattened triangular with an incurved adaxial lobe at the base.
Habitat:
Grows in damp grassland from near sea-level to 1 700 m, flowering from (December -) January to March (- April).
Notes:
Habenaria pseudociliosa has invariably been confused with Habenaria ciliosa, a species of rather restricted distribution, because they share distinctively hispid sepals and bracts and strongly barred basal leaf sheaths. Bolus (1896: t. 64) originally confused the two entities when he described and illustrated Habenaria pseudociliosa as Habenaria ciliosa. Since the former is the more widespread and neither particularly common, this mistake probably effectively concealed the true identity of Habenaria ciliosa and the existence of the second species. Rolfe (1912: 123) and later authors, with access to collections of both entities, failed to distinguish between them and adopted a broad view of Habenaria ciliosa which encompassed both species. Habenaria ciliosa has a distinctly shorter spur, subequal in length to the ovary and c. 10 mm long, the lip lateral lobes longer than the mid-lobe and simple, narrowly oblong lateral rostellar lobes. In Habenaria pseudociliosa the spur is at least 1,5 times longer than the ovary, the lip lateral lobes are shorter than the mid-lobe, and the rostellar arms are lobed adaxially near the base. The two species are unusual in the genus in their hispid bracts and sepals, and lobed rostellar arms are unique in the southern African species of Habenaria at least and possibly in the genus.
Cultivation:
As described for the genus, cold growing terrestrial.
Distribution:
S. Africa
References:
New combinations and a new species in Habenaria (Orchidaceae) from South Africa, S.-Afr.Tidskr. Plantk., 1989,55(2): 192-195; Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzweil 1999; Field Guide to the Orchids of Northern South Africa and Swaziland McMurty, Grobler & Burns 2008
Images:
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Habitat/In situ	Habitat/In situ
Photograph© Cameron McMaster. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Cameron McMaster. Image used with kind permission.