Habenaria elongata, commonly known as the white rein orchid, or Kimberley spider orchid, is a species of orchid that is endemic to northern Australia. It has up to four leaves at its base and up to twenty small white flowers with yellowish tips and thread-like lobes on the labellum.
Habenaria elongata is a tuberous, perennial herb with between two and four oblong to egg-shaped leaves at its base, the leaves NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. Between eight and twenty white flowers with yellow tips, NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide are borne on a flowering stem NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 tall. The dorsal sepal is NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long, about 3sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide, overlapping with the base of the petals to form a hood over the column. The lateral sepals are NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long, about 2sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide and turn downwards behind the labellum. The petals are about 6sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and 3sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. The labellum turns downwards and has three lobes, the side lobes very narrow linear to thread-like, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and the middle lobe NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long. The nectary spur is curved and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long. Flowering occurs in January and February.[1] [2] [3]
Habenaria elongata was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown and the description was published in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen.[4] [5] The specific epithet (elongata) is a Latin word meaning "prolonged",[6] referring to the three long labellum lobes.
The white rein orchid is found in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, northern parts of the Northern Territory, on the Cape York Peninsula and in New Guinea. It grows in grassland, open forest and woodland.