Disa obtusa Lindl.1838 SECTION Disa TYPE for the section Photo by © Marland Holderness and his Flickr Website

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

Common Name The Obtuse Disa

Flower Size 1.4" [3.5 cm]

Found in southwest and Southern Cape Province South Africa in damp, sandy areas at elevations of sea-level to 1000 meters as a medium sized, cool to cold growing terrestrial with usually slender, cauline, linear, erect, imbricate leaves that blooms in the spring on an erect, to 16" [40 cm] long, slender, dense many flowered inflorescence

Synonyms Disa obtusa subsp. hottentotica H.P.Linder 1981; Disa obtusa subsp. picta (Sond.) H.P.Linder 1981; Disa picta Sond. 1846; Disa tabularis Sond. 1846

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982 photo fide; Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982 Disa obtusa subsp. hottentotica; Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzweil 1999 photo fide; Genera Orchidacearum Vol 2 Part One Pridgeon, Cribb, Chase and Rasmussen 2001; A molecular phylogeny for the large African orchid genus Disa Bytebier 2006

Disa obtusa subsp. picta (Sond.) H.P.Linder 1981

Plant in situ South Africa Photos by © Cameron McMaster

Differs from the type in having a shorter dorsal sepal and a much longer spur mostly on peaty slopes at elevations of 300 to 1500 meters

Synonyms Disa pappei Rolfe 1913

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982 photo fide; Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzweil 1999 photo fide;

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