Disa saxicola Schltr. 1895 SECTION Stenocarpa Lindl.

Plant In situ Zimbabwe Photos by Bart Wursten ©, and his Flora Of Zimbabwe WebSite

South African Specimen Photo by © Lourens Grobler

LATE EARLY

Common Name The Lithophytic Disa

Flower Size .4" [1 cm]

Found in Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Transvaal South Africa among rocks and crevices in montane grassland at elevations of 1600 to 2400 meters as a medium sized, cool to cold growing terrestrial orchid with almost spherical, to elongate-cylindrical, densely tomentose tubers giving rise to a slender, erect, leafy throughout stem carrying 5 to 10, the lowest 1 to 3, sheath-like and red spotted, the next 3 to 5, linear lanceolate leaves, acute that blooms in the late spring and early summer on an erect, terminal, .8 to 4.8" [2 to 12 cm] long, densely many flowered inflorescence

Synonyms Disa uliginosa Kraenzl. 1901

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Flora of Tropical East Africa Part 1 Summerhayes 1968; The Epiphytic Orchids of Malawi Morris 1970; The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977 drawing ok; Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982 photo fide to South African Specimen; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Orchidaceae Part 1 Pope 1995; African Orchids in the Wild and Cultivation La Croix 1997 drawing/photo fide; Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzweil 1999 photo hmm; 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 photos fide to South African Specimen; Terrestrial African Orchids, A select Review John S. Ball 2009 drawing fide

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