Disa cylindrica

Disa cylindrica grows a slender, erect stem annually to heights varying between 8 cm and 35 cm. One or two basal sheaths with obtuse tips, glassy and transparent in texture, are found around the stem base below the leaves.

The ascending, strap-shaped leaves grow along the lower stem parts, decreasing in length higher up until they grade into floral bracts on the flower spike. The stem-clasping leaves may have free blades of up to 8 cm in length and margins that are notably wavy, tapering to acute tips.

The species distribution from the Cape Peninsula to Humansdorp along damp or swampy coastal flats to upper fynbos slopes includes a northerly region in the west, reaching Clanwilliam. The plant grows at elevations ranging from near sea level to 1200 m.

D. cylindrica is among the more common orchids of the fynbos and not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century. The photographed specimen was growing in the Fernkloof Nature Reserve at Hermanus in October, in the middle of its normal flowering season. It must have started early this year, having already reached the end of its performance (Liltved and Johnson, 2012; www.redlist.sanbi.org).