Habenaria bractescensLindl.

WFO wfo-0000977258 Accepted WFO 2026-06 3 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–c · 2 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 2 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Habenaria bractescens, photographed by Hugo Hulsberg
fig. a Hugo Hulsberg, CC0 1.0 / 2021-12-06 / obs. 173317662
Habenaria bractescens, photographed by Hugo Hulsberg
fig. b Hugo Hulsberg, CC0 1.0 / obs. 173317592
Habenaria bractescens, photographed by aacocucci
fig. c aacocucci, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 29779690

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 19 botanical countries

Regions where Habenaria bractescens is native: Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Bolivia, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panamá, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela Mexico GulfMexico SoutheastArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestBoliviaBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaEcuadorEl SalvadorGuatemalaHondurasPanamáParaguayUruguayVenezuela
Native distribution of Habenaria bractescens, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Bolivia BOL
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
Guatemala GUA
Honduras HON
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Uruguay URU
Venezuela VEN
Mexico Gulf MXG NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Southeast MXT

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 5 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Habenaria hauman-mercki Hicken
  • Habenaria kleyi Schltr.
  • Habenaria pontagrossensis Kraenzl.
  • Habenaria sartor f. minor Cogn.
  • Kusibabella bractescens (Lindl.) Szlach.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.