Satyrium longicauda var. longicauda

The white or pink flowers of Satyrium longicauda var. longicauda are densely clustered in an erect spike. The leaves grow on a separate sterile shoot from the same tuberous rootstock. Leaf size reaches 20 cm, the small stem leaves sheathing it.

The S. longicauda species occurs in the east of South Africa, from the Eastern Cape, the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal to Mpumalanga and Limpopo, as well as several neighbouring countries, as far as tropical Africa.

The habitat of the species is montane grassland, also seen on disturbed ground like road reserves. These plants flower abundantly after fire. The habitat population of the S. longicauda species overall is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century, but that of the variety has not been assessed (Manning, 2009; Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).