Pterygodium dracomontanum short flower spike

This short Pterygodium dracomontanum flower spike bearing fewer flowers than normally was seen near the Sani Pass.

Pale, pointed stem leaves grade into bracts among the flowers. The knobbly, rounded, pale buds develop blackish parts as they approach opening. The buds also twist around, shifting lips from the top to below the other floral parts in the resupination process.

This plant resembles another montane grassland species of the east of South Africa, P. nigrescens. The resemblance holds in inflorescence and leaves as well as growth habit (Liltved and Johnson, 2012; Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist).