Habenaria malacophylla flower

The green and white flowers of Habenaria malacophylla grow in an erect, lax inflorescence becoming about 12 cm long.

The dorsal sepal forms a hood over the flower column. The petals are two-lobed, their upper lobes positioned next to the dorsal sepal. The lower, longer ones, linear in shape, spread to the sides above the lateral lip lobes. The lateral sepals can be seen in the photo pointing down on the sides of the flower. They are about elliptic in shape and concave with pointed tips.

The lip is three-lobed, its lateral lobes positioned below the petals and resembling these petal lobes. The lip’s midlobe points downwards, sturdier than the laterals and in the photo curving back. The spur becomes up to 1,5 cm long. It is inflated in its mid-section and borne parallel and close to the angled ovary behind the flower.

The flowers are fragrant nocturnally. Flowering in South Africa happens in summer until mid-autumn, later in some parts of tropical Africa (Pooley, 1998; www.orchidspecies.com; www.zimbabweflora.co.zw).