Habenaria palpensis Raskoti, 2019

Raskoti, Bhakta Bahadur & Ale, Rita, 2019, New species of orchids and notes on Orchidaceae of Nepal, Phytotaxa 394 (4), pp. 257-266 : 260

Habenaria palpensis Raskoti sp. nov. Figs. 3 and 4 .

Type:— Nepal, Palpa District, Mujhung, at an altitude of 1500 m, 4 Sept. 2009, Raskoti Bhakta B. 00999 (holotype: KATH).

Diagnosis: Habenaria palpensis is closely related to Habenaria rostrata ( Lindley 1835: 325) but differs in having lateral sepals not reflexed and blotched brown, lateral lobe of lip not divaricate, spur geniculate and longer than ovary and pedicel.

Herb terrestrial, whole plant 45 cm tall. Stem sheathed, cylindrical with 2 spaced leaves, and four bracts above leaves. Leaves 2, alternate, ovate-lanceolate, 3.5–5.5 × 1.5–2.0 cm, apex acute, margin entire. Inflorescence racemose; peduncle 25–30 cm, rachis 4 cm with 5–6 suberect lax flowers; floral bracts 2 cm long, lanceolate, apex acuminate. Ovary 2 cm long, twisted. Flower half opened, 1 cm across, white with upper part of sepals, and midlobe of lip flushed light green. Dorsal sepal 7 × 2 mm, 3-veined, oblong-lanceolate, concave, curved, 3-lobed from above middle, lateral lobe small, rounded, mid lobe triangular, apex acute; lateral sepals 8 × 4 mm, obliquely ovate-lanceolate, curved, 3-veined, apex acuminate. Petals 4 × 1 mm, adnate to the column wings, oblong, 1-veined, apex obtuse. Lip 1 cm long and ca. 3 mm wide, base with ring shaped collar, 3-lobed above base, lateral lobes 5.0 × 0.5 mm, filiform, acuminate, mid lobe oblong, 7 × 2 mm, 1-veined, apex obtuse, spur 25 mm long, longer than ovary, geniculate, apex clavate. Column 2 mm, auricle 1 mm, caudicles 2 mm long, pollinia ellipsoid, stigma oblong, ca. 2 mm.

Flowering time: —August–September.

Habit, habitat and distribution: —Terrestrial in open moist shady grassland slopes in floor of Pine forest. Taxon is known only from type locality in central Nepal at an altitude of 1500 meters.

Etymology: — Habenaria palpensis is the name of the type locality Palpa district.

Notes: — Habenaria palpensis is close to Habenaria rostrata , with which it shares the ring-shaped collar near mouth of spur ( Chen et al. 2009, Pedersen et al. 2011). It is distinguished from H. rostrata by 3-lobed oblong-lanceolate dorsal sepal, apex acute, lateral sepals not reflexed and blotched brown, apex acute, lateral lobe of lip not divaricate, spur geniculate and longer than pedicel and ovary.

Habenaria palpensis is also similar to Habenaria rostellifera ( Reichenbach 1878: 34) in its spur shape, but the later has reflexed lateral sepals with dark brown blotched and divaricated lateral lobes of lip. Moreover, H. rostellifera has 3-toothed subcylindric lamella near mouth of spur.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Habenaria palpensis.A, Flowering plant; B, Flower (spread out) with bract, pedicel and ovary; C, Sepal, petal and lip; D, Lip enlarged; E, Column (All drawn by first author from the type specimen).

FIGURE 4. Habenaria palpensis. A, Plants in the natural habitat; B, Rachis; C, Flower with pedicel, ovary and spur (side view); D, Flower front view (spread out).