Habenaria

Terrestrial herbs, with globose or palmate root tubers. Leaves radical and adpressed to ground or cauline. Inflorescence lax or dense, racemose; flowers normally resupinate, white and/or green, rarely yellow, orange or pink; bracts mainly narrow. Sepals unequal, free; laterals spreading; median one often forming hood with petals or with upper petal lobe. Petals simple or deeply bilobed, usually narrower than median sepal, lower lobe sometimes descending and simulating lip lobe. Lip often shortly adnate to gynostemium, spurred, entire or variously lobed. Gynostemium: anther thecae parallel or diverging, adjacent or separated by wide connective, anther canals short or much elongated and adnate to lateral rostellum arms; pollinia 2, sectile, with caudicles attached to small viscidia; stigma extended into 2 short or elongate, often clavate processes; rostellum 3-lobed, lateral lobes divergent and short or long, central lobe various. Capsule oblong or ellipsoid, sometimes beaked. x= 21 (aneuploids, high polyploidy).