Disa stairsii Kraenzl. 1892 SECTION Micranthae

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

Drawing Drawing by © A Cleuter/Geerink

Common Name Stairs' Disa

Flower Size 1/2" to .8" [1.2 to 2 cm]

Found in Rwanda, Zaire, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania in bamboo and ericoid vegetation in high mountains and in swamps in full sun at elevations of 2100 to 3750 meters as a large sized, cold growing terrestrial or occcasional epiphyte with cauline, in a basal rosette leaves that blooms at most any time of the year on an erect, terminal, thick, to 36" [ to 90 cm] long, densely many flowered inflorescence,

Synonyms Disa bakeri Rolfe 1907; Disa gregoriana Rendle 1895; Disa luxurians Kraenzl. 1900; Disa wissmannii Kraenzl. 1895

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchids of East Africa Piers 1968; Flora Of Tropical East Africa Vol 1 Summerhayes 1968; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 5 257- 320 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1974; Flore D'Afrique Centrale [Zaire- Rwands - Burundi] Orhidaceae Premeir parte Geerink 1984 drawing fide; Orchids of Kenya Stewart & Campbell 1996 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