Orthochilus odontoglossus

Orthochilus odontoglossus is a tall, slender perennial, a ground orchid reaching heights from 50 cm to 120 cm.

The species is distributed along the Transkei coast of the Eastern Cape, in KwaZulu-Natal and the Mpumalanga and Limpopo Lowveld. It also grows in neighbouring countries of tropical Africa including Swaziland and Zimbabwe, where other colour varieties than the South African yellow one are seen; some of them white, others brown to purple.

The habitat of this plant is sour grassland and coastal thornveld, some parts of which are well drained, others marshy or seasonally so. The plant occurs at elevations from the coast to 2100 m. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Pooley, 1998; www.zimbabweflora.co.zw; www.redlist.sanbi.org).