Habenaria malintana (Blanco) Merr.

[Saroj Kasaju]

Dear Members,

Location: Chobhar, Kathmandu, Nepal  

Date: 03 September 2024

Elevation: 1400m. 

Habitat : Wild

Thank you.

Saroj Kasaju

[Saroj Kasaju]

Thank you.

Saroj Kasaju

[Saroj Kasaju]

Thank you.

Saroj Kasaju

[Saroj Kasaju]

[Saroj Kasaju]

[J.M. Garg]

Thanks, Saroj ji

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With regards,
J.M.Garg

[Pankaj Kumar]

Yes this is deformed form of Habenaria dentata, which is infact the case with Habenaria malintana too. Habenaria dentata is a self compatible species which seems also to lose pollen from its own pollinia on its stigma. This causes a lot of inbreeding, resulting in showing up of a lot of deformities. And hence so many names and fake new species both from India and abroad. Very interesting to see it still has a spur attached to it. Habenaria malintana has a very tiny spur or almost none. My idea was not to merge all under H. dentata but to keep the spurred plant with H. dentata and non-spurred plant with H. malintana.

I would call this a deformed Habenaria dentata.

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Pankaj Kumar MSc, PhD, FLS

IUCN-SSC Red List Authority for Orchids of Asia

IUCN-SSC: Chinese Species Specialist Group, Orchid Specialist Group of Asia, Global Trade Subgroup, Western Ghats Plant Specialist Group. Hong Kong Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan

Institute of Environment, Florida International University & Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Miami, Florida, USA

email: sahani...@gmail.com; pankaj...@fiu.edu | Phone: +1 806 317 7623

[Saroj Kasaju]

Thank you Dr. Kumar.

Saroj Kasaju