Disa fragrans inflorescence

The cylindrical inflorescence of Disa fragrans is many-flowered, sometimes up to 150 of them. A flower spike reaches about 10 cm in length.

The flowers in picture are mainly yellow. The red in the photo belongs to the tips of the pointed floral bracts that grow from the stalk over the base of the ovary of each flower. The pale, nearly white colouring seen among the yellow of the flowers also belongs to these bracts, this time the blades lower down that are not fully reflexed but protruding outwards, their tips curved up. The white showing is still the outer surfaces.

There are flowers open concurrently along the full length of the visible inflorescence in the photo. The blooming season of this disa may begin either around midsummer or autumn, lasting sometimes to the onset of winter. This may mean that the flowers last long. The flowering is probably variable across the distribution range (Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist; www.zimbabweflora.co.zw).