The Palmetto, Fall 1990, Page 3 Despite the considerable precipitation that falls on the so-called Sunshine binomials. State, if you hear somebody talking about Florida's "Rain Orchids'~ tell them, Estimates of the number of species of Habenaria vary from 300to 600,depend• 'Whoa, there! Hold your horses. You must mean "Rein Orchids:' ingon how the genus isdelimited.lnthe The homonymic nature of the words "rain" and "rein" make the mistake modern, stricter sense of the genus, understandable. But these orchids - which belong to the genus Habenaria• however, the lower number probably is are properly "Rein Orchids" with an "e'~ more accu rate. Species of the genus Habenaria are found throughout South America, by Chuck McCartney Africa, and Asia. Five taxa of true habenarias occu r in Florida. Two are rather limited in distribution within the In the mid-1700s,Swedish botanist Carl generic name as the specific epithet. state. The other three are encountered Thus, Linne's plant could not be called von Linne obtained specimensof a New relatively frequently in their chosen World orchid bearing flowers producing Habenaria habenaria. (This practice is habitats. These Rein Orchids of Florida allowed in zoological nomenclature, a nectar spur that hung down nearly generally bloom from late summer into giving us such stuttering names as seven inches from the back of the lip. early winter. Linne, known to the world by his Latin• Anhinga anhinga.) Linne'sOrchis haben• ized name, Carolus Linnaeus, and con• aria of 1759 therefore became Will• Habenaria qu;nqueseta denow's Habenaria macroceratitis. This sidered the father of our modern In the pinelands of EvergladesNational binomial system of botanical nomen• species epithet came from the Greek Park,Habenaria quinqueseta (Michaux) clature, placed this western hemisphere words meaning "large horn'; no doubt A. Eaton var. quinqueseta can be found terrestrial orchid in the genus Orchis, also referri ng to the length of the nectar blooming from late August through which is now considered limited to spur of this orchid. Today,we knowthis September, sometimes right along road- Eurasia. He called it Orchis habenaria, plant as Habenaria quinqueseta coining the speciesepithet from the Latin (Michaux) A. Eaton var. macroceratitis word habena, meaning "strap';"thong'; or (Willdenow) Luer. It is considered the "rein': The name probably refers to the type species for the genus Habenaria, long, rein-like nectar spur, although the and it is present in Florida. three-lobed lip and lower lobe of each Because of the generic name, bilobed lateral petal also appear some• members ofthe genus Habenaria today what rein-like. are called Rein Orchids, a rather artificial Later, in 1805,Carl Ludwig Willdenow common name manufactured for per• erected the genus Habenaria, using the sons unableto remember Latinized plant Linnaean species name for his new grouping. Rules of botanical nomen• c1aturedo not allow the repetition of the The species name of Habenaria quinqueseta comes from the Latin words for"five bristles', refer• ring to what, at first, looks like the flower's five-part lip. Only the lower three 'bristles"belong to the lip. The outermost upswept bristle on each side is the lower lobe of each bilobed lateral petal. This plant was growing in a pasture under pines in the Big Cypress Swamp in September, 1984. sides.This species rangesthroughoutthe Florida peninsula, up the Atlantic coast as far as southern South Carolina and along the Gu If coast asfar west aseastern Texas.In those areas,it may occu py plant ,I communities other than the harsh pine• I land environment in which it is found in I I southern Florida. B"LOBEO PETALJ This species produces attractive, somewhat spidery, white to greenish• white, inch-wide flowers which exhibit the typical Habenaria floral form. In fact, the species name, quinqueseta, created \ , byAnd reMichaux in 1803for a plant from ________ LSPUR Blooming plants of Habenaria quinqueseta have the Carolinas, makes reference to this large leaves growing up the stem. Such "cauline" form. It comes from the Latin words leaves are typical for the genus Habenaria. This meaning "five bristles': On first glance, specimen, growing under pines in a pasture in Big Cypress Swamp, was photographed in Sep• the lip of the flower appears to be made tember, 1987. up of five bristle-like lobes. But only the Page 4, The Palmetto, Fall 1990 lower three lobes belong to the lip, and the stem, all the larger leaves are a similarly deeply three-lobed lip is clustered around the bottom of the stem, typical of most species of true formi ng a basal rosette againstthe damp habenarias. The 'widest-spreading lobe ground in which these plants grow. The on each side of the lip is actually the species epithet, distans, comes from a lowermost lobe of each deeply bilobed Latin word meaning "standing apart" and lateral petal, again with such d~eply may refer to the distance between the bilobed petals being typical for the leaves and the flowers in this rosulate genus. The shorter, broader upper lobe Habenaria distans is the rarest Rein Orchid in species. It also may refer to the rather of each petal is held tightly against the Florida, producing green-and-yellow flowers similar widely spaced flowers on the few• concave dorsal sepal, forming a hood in form to those of Habenaria quinqueseta. flowered inflorescence. The exact overthe entrance to the usually long nec• However, the lateral lobes of the lip spread wider reference is not clear, according to Luer. tar spur jutting from the back of the lip. in H. distans. Photographed in a damp swamp forest in Collier County in September, 1986. The length of the nectar spur can vary Habenaria repens considerably within the genus. The' The other Rein Orchid in Florida lateral sepals often fold back out of the County, it is represented by at least two way because they do not seem essential healthy populations, one on a tree island displaying typical Habenaria flower characteristics is Habenaria repens Nut• to the mechanism of the pollination in the depths of the Fakahatchee Strand, tall, one of the Sunshine State's few process. and another in a damp swamp forest in Because of the long-spurred flower a protected area nearer the Gulf coast. structure, pollination would appear to be This species also occurs in much of the by butterflies and/or moths. _ Caribbean and Central Americaand in a Plants of Habenaria quinqueseta, small portion of northern South America. which can range from less than eight inches to more than 24 inches in height, also exhibit typical Habenaria vegetative form, with large cauline [growing from the stem] leaves extending well up the stem from the base on flowering specimens. Leaves on sterile plants re• main as a basal rosette. In the typical form of Habenaria quin• queseta, the nectar spu r rangesfrom less than two inches to almost four inches in length. A longer-spu rred form occurs in a limited area of western central Florida, Habenaria repens is commonly called the Water generally from Tampa Bay northward to Spider Orchid, with good reason. It is one of Florida's few truly aquatic orchids, often grawing the Big Bend area of north Florida. Thi? in standing water. And the little flowers do indeed isthe form Linne fi rstdescribed asOrchis look like nests of spiders crowding the in• habenaria. It also occu rsfrom southern florescence. This specimen was growing beside an Mexico through Central America and artificial pond in Palm Beach County, June, 1985. along the Caribbean coast of northern South America aswell ason the islands "aquatic" orchids (and perhaps more of Cuba and Jamaica. The latter island deserving of this designation than supposedly is the type locality for this Spiranthes odorata). In fact, its ap• form. propriate common name, Water Spider Although this extreme difference in Orchid, makes allusion to the aquatic length of the nectar spur probably in• habitat in which Habenaria repens most dicates a different pollinatoror group of frequently is found. And the spicate Habenaria distans does not produce large leaves racemes of little greenish flowers, with pollinators forthe two forms, in all other on the bloom stem, as do most other Rein Orchids. floral details the long-spurred form ap• Instead, the leaves grow at ground level, forming their typical Habenaria shape, do, in• pears to be identical to the typical form a basal rosette. Photographed in swamp forest in deed, look like nests of spiders. of Habenaria quinqueseta. This led Dr. Collier County, September, 1986. Although rare in southern Florida, this orchid is considered the most common Carlyle A. Luer, in The Native Orchids of Florida (1972),to reduce the long• Habenaria in central Florida, where it oc• spurred form to a variety of the typical curs along the edges of lakes, as well as form, as Habenaria quinqueseta var. actually in the lakes growing out of macroceratitis. floating mats of vegetation. Besides be• ing fou nd throughout most of peni nsular Habenaria distans Florida, Habenaria repens occu rsup the Very similartoHabenaria quinqueseta Atlantic coast asfar asNorth Carol ina and in both flower size and form is Florlda's along the Gulf coast down into Mexico. rarest Rein Orchid. This is Habenaria It also is found throughout the West In• distans Grisebach, which has been dies and the lands ringing the Caribbean reported in Floridaonlyfrom Highlands, basin. Lee, and Collier counties. In Collier The flowers of Habenaria repens are The Palmetto, Fall 1990,. Page 5 considerably smaller than those of the variety of the Mexican Habenaria stric• two lateral petals, making them scarcely other species ofthis genus occu rring in tissima Reichenbach f., a name under visible as little lobules at the base of the Florida, being only about one-half an which the Florida plants sometimes are widened upper lobe.