Disperis cardiophora

Disperis cardiophora is a tuberous geophyte, a perennial ground orchid that grows only one rounded leaf at its base. Growing in grassland, this leaf may not see all that much sun, so that some of the plant’s photosynthesis may be carried out in other green plant parts positioned higher up, especially the bracts among the flowers.

This slender and small orchid becomes only about 20 cm tall. Its distribution is moist grassland of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. The species is not considered threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (iSpot; www.pacificbulbsociety.org; www.redlist.sanbi.org).