Habenaria humilior inflorescence

The inflorescence of Habenaria humilior varies in length from 5 cm to 25 cm and much in the number of flowers produced. Flowers may be green, white or green and white in the same flower. Variability is sometimes associated with large geographic distribution, in this case from KwaZulu-Natal to Ethiopia.

The flowers are scattered along the stem of the inflorescence, angling up and outwards. The ovaries are ridged and green, the stalks below them narrower, enveloped in thin membranous bracts that in the photo have already withered to a brown colour. Lip lobes as well as spurs are strongly bent backwards from the flowers in picture, while lateral sepals spread sideways conspicuously (www.africanorchids.dk).