Pterygodium hallii

Pterygodium hallii is a terrestrial orchid, an erect, deciduous herb, annually growing to 50 cm from a perennial tuber. At least six leaves are grown, lance-shaped to narrowly elliptic, their tips acutely pointed. Leaf dimensions reach 18 cm by 3,5 cm.

The specific distribution of this widely adapted South African endemic is in the west of the country, growing in the Western and Northern Cape from Langebaan and Saldanha to the Kamiesberg in Namaqualand and the southern Richtersveld. The distribution also continues eastwards to Laingsburg in the Karoo.

The habitat varies from karoid and renosterveld shrubland to strandveld at altitudes from 1700 m in varied soils to near the coast; rain falls in winter here. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Liltved and Johnson, 2012; Le Roux, et al, 2005; www.redlist.sanbi.org).