Disa hircicornis Rchb.f. 1881 SECTION Micranthae

Photo by © Williamson

Inflorescence and plant in situ

Photo courtesy of © Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz and their Website

LATE EARLY

Common Name The Goat-Like Horned Disa

Flower Size .6" [1.5 cm]

Found in Nigeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Zaire, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Natal and Transvaal South Africa in swampy areas at elevations of 1000 to 1700 meters as a small to medium sized, cool to cold growing terrestrial with mottled and barred red basally leaves that blooms in the late spring and early summer on an erect, 12 to 24" [30 to 60 cm] long, cylindrical, many flowered inflorescence carrying fragrant flowers

Similar to D perplexa but it differs in the elliptic-spathulate lip and the shorter lateral sepals and flowers with white and green spotted with maroon. D hircicornis has a narrowly oblong lip, longer lateral sepals and the flowers are reddish purple to dusty mauve and are usually unspotted.

Synonyms Disa amblyopetala Schltr.1915; Disa culveri Schltr.1895; Disa laeta Rchb.f. 1881

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Otia Botanica Hamburgensia Rchb.f 1881; Otia Botanica Hamburgensia Rchb.f 1881 as D laeta; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 as D laeta; Orchids of East Africa Piers 1968; Flora Of Tropical East Africa Vol 1 Summerhayes 1968; The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977 as D amblyopetala drawing/photo fide; The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977 drawing/photo fide; Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982 photo fide; Flore D'Afrique Centrale [Zaire- Rwands - Burundi] Orhidaceae Premeir parte Geerink 1984 drawing fide; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Orchidaceae Part 1 Pope 1995; The Orchids of Kenya Stewart & Campbell 1996 photo fide; Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzweil photo fide; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 40 pg 2492 - 2564 Brieger 2000; Genera Orchidacearum Vol 2 Part One Pridgeon, Cribb, Chase and Rasmussen 2001; A molecular phylogeny for the large African orchid genus Disa Bytebier 2006; Field Guide to the Orchids of Northern South Africa and Swaziland McMurty, Grobler, Grobler & Burns 2008 photo ok; Terrestrial African Orchids, A select Review John S. Ball 2009 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 84 #10 2015 photo fide;

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