Satyrium longicauda var. longicauda

Satyrium longicauda var. longicauda, commonly called the blushing bride satyrium, is a tuberous geophyte, a slender perennial reaching heights up to 80 cm.

One or two basal leaves grow on a separate, sterile shoot from the same tuberous rootstock. Leaf length reaches 20 cm, the small flowering stem leaves sheathing it. The white or pink flowers are densely clustered in an erect spike. 

The 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).