Disa longipetala (Lindl.) Bolus, J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 25: 201 (1889).
Homotypic Synonyms:
Schizodium longipetalum Lindl., Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl.: 359 (1838).
Heterotypic Synonyms:
Schizodium antenniferum Schltr., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 24: 426 (1897).
Description:
Plants 70-200 mm tall, scape wiry, flexuose; basal leaves spathulate, lorate, apiculate, 8-12 mm long and 3-6 mm wide, margins crisped-undulate, cau-line leaves 2-3, oblong, lanceolate, acute to acuminate, 8-13 mm long, the upper half free. Inflorescences (2-) 6 (-7) -flowered. Flowers greenish yellow, lip mesochile and base of the lateral sepals with purplish spots, filiform processes of the petals and lip dull purple; pedicels 3-10 mm long, ovaries 3-5 mm long. Median sepal recurved, lanceolate, acute, 7-12 mm long and 2-3 mm wide; spur 2-3 mm long, bluntly bifid, straight to slightly decurved, constricted at the base; lateral sepals narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, recurved, 8-12 mm long and 1.5-2 mm wide. Petals bent near the base, 2-3 mm long, basal anticous lobe absent, apex unequally bifid with the anterior tooth filiform, at least 2x as long as the petal limb. Lip pandurate, hypochile and epichile subequal, 1.3-3 mm wide, apical tooth subulate, 3.5-12 mm long, often reflexed. Anther reflexed; stigma pul-vinate; rostellum tridentate.
Habitat:
Recorded from only four localities in the Western Cape, of which only one is known still to exist. Restricted to proteoid shrubland on gravelly soils derived from Table Mountain Sandstone. Flowering in August and September.
Distribution:
SW. Cape Prov.
