Orquídea de tres dedos (Habenaria tridactylites)

Annual plant with small bulb. Basal leaves are long and dark green, shiny, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, up to 10 cm long. The inflorescence (one per plant) is leafless and reaches up to 30 cm (rarely 60 cm). Inflorescence of 10-30 flowers, greenish-yellow, each having three linear lobes with relatively long spurs (hence the name tridactyle or having three fingers or toes). This orchid is native to the Canary Islands and is found on all the islands except Fuerteventura. It is plentiful in the central and western isles, from 150-200 to above 1,000 m. Characteristic of open patches of rocky areas and the well-developed soils of evergreen and fayal-brezal laurel firetree and heath forest undergrowth, where it forms large colonies and flowers unusually early, from November onwards. Considered a relict species, probably of ancient origin, as it is related to three other orchids of the genus Habernaria native to tropical Africa and Asia (particularly, Nepal) and has no other relations in Europe or North Africa.