Habenaria furcifera

–  Habenaria furcifera is a much taller plant, in vegetative condition, leaves are slightly scattered and you will not find a prominent margin on the leaf, whereas in Habenaria marginatta, leaves are clustered on the ground with distinct white margin. In flowers, obviously furcifera is much taller with totally green flowers, labellum is three lobed with filiform lobes centre pointing forward and side lobes pointing backwards. In H. marginata the flower is perfect golden yellow much shorter than furcifera and bigger too. The labellum is three lobed which are not filiform, and the tip of side lobed curled inwards giving a spiral look or rounded

11111PD 01 Flora of Orissa for ID:
please help me in identifying this species. Since my field assistant had taken this photograph at night and he dont have a good camera, i could not upload a clear image.

now when i asked him about these images, he replied that the first one is another species and the last two are one (they called it as Kandarpraj in local language as the flowers are really beautiful) and this is one of the very important medicinal plant in that region. Kindly try to understand my limitations.

it looks like Habenaria ovalifolia Wight

You will be surprised …, that cant be Peristylus. Ovary is not parallel to the stalk.
The first one to me is Habenaria plantaginea and the other two are Habenaria furcifera.
BUT IT CANT BE CONFIRMED LIKE THIS.
…, if you can see, the leaves in first pic is appressed on the ground, but in other two, its slightly raised with wavy margin. These form important characters at times. Secondly, assuming that all pics were taken on the same day, pic one is in buds where as other two are in new fruits. Plant identification in such case becomes tricky and our identification and our credibility is at risk if we incorrectly identify the plants. If it goes wrong, people point fingers on us.

Many people (including Kew) treat Habenaria ovalifloia as synonym fo Habenaria furcifera. But I have seen the latter in real and former in pics. They are very different. I assume you have access to H. ovalifolia. Please do share the pics. We may write one article in this regard describing the difference of both species.
Habenaria ovalifolia is not found in Orissa till now.

Thanks … for detailed analysis and the ID. I know ur aptitude towards orchids. Its my limitation again i have to wait another year to cross check these with the live specimen. U r right, there are 3 spcies which the field assistant reported which are of same name as per the local baidya. I wl check it once i go to field.

ORCHIDACEAE: Habenaria ovalifolia Wight by Sachin Dangat 003 – 31.08.2010:
This is Habenaria ovaliflolia Wight, but Kew checklist considers this as a synonym of Habenaria furcifera which to me is wrong.

sending the image for your authentication. Please check if this is Habenaria ovaliflolia ?

this is not ovalifolia.
The mib lobe of the lip in ovalifolia is turned upside covering the front of column. Inf yours its bend downwards. Your pic is Habenaria furcifera.

might be Habenaria frucifera????????

The key says…
Leaves clustered about the middle of the scape…..H. ovalifolia, H. furcifera & H. hollandiana
Leaves radical, clustered at the base of the scape…… H. viridiflora & H. marginata

Do you remember the position of the leaves in the wild? Since you have potted the specimen…. May be the part of the stem below the leaves has gone under the soil (thinking loud)….. Please correct if I am wrong….

Hence I didn’t check the earlier option…. But confused now….
Will wait for comments…. Wondering why … hasn’t replied yet…. 

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This is 100% Habenaria furcifera.

As for the key, I think, Sorry to say but this key wont work at all for Habenaria. There is a distinct difference in the labellum. Use the labellum structure to make the keys.

The height of the leaves depends on how deep the tuberoids are. As far as I remember I have never seen RADICAL leaves in Habenariodeae.

Leaves are always on stem but it can be: Clustered:

Can be adpressed on ground as in Habenaria plantaginea or Habenaria reniformis. Can be clustered but raised above like in Habenaria furcifera or Habenaria longicorniculata.

Scattered: As in Habenaria digitata or Habenaria foliosa or Habenaria commelinifolia.
Hope this is understandible.

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When I say adpressed on ground, I mean that leaves are so tightly adpressed to the ground that when you take the plant out, leaves tend to curve backwards.

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may be H. furcifera or Habenaria hollandiana Santapu. ??

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I have never seen hollandiana. By any chance do you have any pics of the same. Or may be some voucher specimens as BLAT. I would love to see. May be … can access to any vouchers at BLAT too.

Wight’s Icone which is referred to as hollandiana was actually WRONGLY made for Habenaria affinis which is now Peristylus affinis. The drawing on Wight’s Icon matches very well with what I call Habenaria furcifera. I would also like to know what Father Santapau wrote for hollandiana in Flora of Purandhar if anyone has this book.

…, just in case you know about hollandiana please pass on info to me if possible.
Please find the icon attached.

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There is no specimen of Habenaria hollandiana in BLAT… Mentioning excerpts from the Flora of Purandhar “The oldest name of this plant (H. hollandiana) is that of Wight’s of 1851, but the name is pre-occupied by that of Don of 1825; our plant, then, needs a new name.”
He also mentions “Woodrow found the plant at Purandhar, but he seems to be only collector who has found the plant in this locality; there are no plants in Blatter Herb.”

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ORCHIDACEAE Juss. Fortnight: Habenaria furcifera Lindl. from Jharkhand, PKS-36 : Attachments (1). 3 posts by 3 authors.
Habenaria furcifera Lindl., Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl.: 319 (1835).
Synonyms:
Habenaria hamigera Griff., Calcutta J. Nat. Hist. 4: 380 (1844).
Habenaria modesta Dalzell, Hooker’s J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 2: 262 (1850).
Habenaria ovalifolia Wight, Icon. Pl. Ind. Orient. 5: t. 1708 (1851).
Habenaria tenuicornis Wall. ex Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 6: 149 (1890), nom. inval.
Distribution: Indian Subcontinent to China (S. Yunnan)

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[EfloraofIndia_ORCHIDACEAE Juss. Fortnight]:19102013PD01_Habenaria furcifera Lindley_Flora of Odisha : Attachments (1). 3 posts by 3 authors.
sharing the image of Habenaria furcifera Lindley taken from Mahendragiri hills, Odisha

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Ok this does look like Habenaria furcifera.

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ID-18092014-PR-2 : 4 posts by 2 author. Attachments (5).
plants from gujarat
its terrestrial orchid
i think its Habenaria sp

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Habenaria furcifera Lindl.

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Yes it is a Habenaria furcifera……….

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in Panchamari area of Satpura Tiger Reserve– Aug’09?; Bori area of Satpura Tiger Reserve-17-9-08; Jharkhand;

Ground Orchid from Bori – NSD 20 – indiantreepix | Google Groups

ID the Orchid – indiantreepix | Google Groups

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Habenaria furcifera Lindl. is distributed almost India-wide, and further in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, China, Myanmar, Thailand.

Ref: Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal