Disa klugei
Author: Ivan Lätti
Photographer: Judd Kirkel Welwitch
Disa klugei is a recently described Disa occurring in a limited high altitude area of Mpumalanga grassveld. The plant was first described in the Field Guide to the Orchids of Northern South Africa and Swaziland, by McMurtry, et al and published by Umdaus in 2008.
The plant resembles D. patula var. transvaalensis, but is a bit smaller. It has a decurved spur instead of the straight one found on D. patula. D. klugei flowers later and has a much smaller distribution area.
The naming was in honour of Johan Paul Kluge (1947 to 1998), botanist, plant collector and past Curator of the Lowveld Botanical Garden.
(Information was provided by Judd Kirkel. See also the Yearbook of SA Orchids of 1999.)