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Habenaria limprichtii
Deciduous tuberous terrestrial orchid with fairly large (4-6cm across) squid-like flowers. Like all Habenaria, flowers have a nectar spur and in this case look like they should be nocturnal moth pollinated (green/white flowers reflect the moonlight attracting them to drink the nectar) I'd love to know which does the job! The purpose of the branched processes of the orchid's lip are unknown but possibly help disseminate scent. I saw them in the afternoon and then had to push off quick so no chance to sample any aroma.
Steep roadside verge, growing in 10cm of gravel and loamy accumulation over concrete.
This was a good sized healthy population (pic 3) but as we drove away, a road maintenance team were approaching with strimmers (weed wackers), so the plants would have been unlikely to set seed.
Spotted on Sep 5, 2010
Submitted on Feb 5, 2012
5 Comments
Great! Craig, you'll be happy to hear I finally spotted a few wild orchids here in Thailand too. Will let you know when I post them.
I love your new orchid mission craig! Great idea! I added my wild orchids!
Yes yes. 3rd picture show it! Thanks for spotting this :)
Yep, this is one of my favourite orchids Wendy! It's such a strange flower and even though it's quite large for a ground orchid, you could easily walk straight past them because the colours are so subtle.
What a beautiful Craig!