Disa roseovittata

Disa roseovittata is a terrestrial orchid, a perennial herb growing leaves and flowers annually from its tuberous rootstock. The medium to large plants reach heights of about 60 cm. The species resembles D. nervosa.

The yellow-green to blue-green leaves are hairless with acutely pointed tips. They overlap each other in a spiral up the stem. The leaves don’t only sheathe the stem, but fold around it for most of their length.

The floral bracts subtending and enveloping the ovaries of the flowers dry to a dark brown colour only in their upper sections while still flowering. This happens already early in the flowering cycle, the bracts being less resilient than the proper leaves below.

The species is a latecomer to the listed South African disas, only described in 2008 by McMurtry and McDonald, known to grow in northern KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.

The habitat is open grassland in sour soils at elevations of 1200 m to 1800 m. The status of the habitat population is unknown, not yet assessed by SANBI (iNaturalist; iSpot; www.orchidspecies.com).