Habenaria elliptica Wight, Icon. Pl. Ind. Orient. 5: t. 1706 1851. (syn: Plantaginorchis elliptica (Wight) Szlach.);

SW. India as per WCSP;

Common name: Elliptic Habenaria


Herbs; tubers ellipsoid, 2-2.5 x 0.6 cm: stem 8 to 24 inches, leafy. Leaves mostly near the ground but also on the stem above, lanceolate or elliptic, acute, 5-10 x 1-2 cm, the upper smaller and merging into the floral bracts, which are lanceolate acute, shorter than the ovary. Flowers white, 1.2 cm across, in many flowered dense racemes dense. Dorsal sepals and petals erect, arching aver the column: lateral sepals spreading. Lip curled down, divided to near the middle into three nearly equal lobes: lateral lobes acute, entire or dentate on the outer margin; spur 2 cm long, slender above, below much thickened and curved forwards. Stigmatic processes fleshy, deflexed down against the labellum. Ovary 2 cm long, curved forwards.

Flowering and fruiting: August-September
Shola forests
South India
(attributions- Dr. N Sasidharan (Dr. B P Pal Fellow), Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi from India Biodiversity Portal)

 

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Terrestrial orchid at Munnar- PKA23 : 9 posts by 4 authors. Attachments (6)- around 500 kb each. 

This terrestrial orchid was spotted at the outskirts of Eravikulam National park, Munnar.
Could this be some Habenaria sp.?
Habenaria elliptica has been reported from this region..


swaddled baby orchid. just kidding. will wait for … to tell us the scientific name but orchids make such a large numbers of anthropomorphic flowers! i could not resist pics 2 , 3 and 5.


This is really very interesting, because so far I have never seen any pic of this species from wild.

Thanks a lot for sharing.


Thanks … I hope the ID (Habenaria elliptica) is correct..


Yes it is correct and it is endemic to India.


so swaddled baby orchid is Habenaria elliptica