Satyrium trinerve

Satyrium trinerve is a slender terrestrial orchid reaching 1 m in height in its annual above-ground parts from perennial, elongated, woolly tubers.

The species is distributed in the east of South Africa from the Eastern Cape to Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. It also grows in Lesotho, Swaziland, tropical Africa to Zambia and Malawi, as well as on Madagascar and the Comoros.

The habitat is marshy ground, humid forests, vleis and damp grassland at elevations from the coast to over 2000 m. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Pooley, 1998; Onderstall, 1984; www.zimbabweflora.co.zw; www.redlist.sanbi.org).