Disa danielae Geerinck, Bull. Jard. Bot. Natl. Belg. 52: 142 (1982).
Description:
Tubers up to 2 cm long and 1 cm in diameter, ovoid or ellipsoid. Sterile stem 1-2-leaved at the apex; leaves 10-15 cm long, 0.5-0.8 cm wide, linear or narrowly lanceolate, acute. Flowering stem up to 40 cm tall, erect, delicate, glabrous, entirely covered by leaves. Leaves 8-10, 2-4 cm long, lanceolate, acute, erect, decreasing in size up the stem. Inflorescence 5-8 cm long, 4-12-flowered, lax. Flowers pinkish. Floral bracts up to 30 mm long, lanceolate, acute to acuminate, all shorter than flowers. Ovary 15 mm long. Dorsal sepal 15 mm long, 7 mm wide, clawed, claw 6-8 mm long, ribbon-like; blade elliptic, rounded at the apex, spurred at the base. Spur 7 mm long, 1.2-1.5 mm in diameter, subclavate, blunt, pendent. Petals distinctly bilobed; anterior lobe up to 10 mm long and 8 mm wide, obliquely elliptic to semi-orbicular, rounded at the apex, entire; posterior lobe up to 13 mm long from the base, 1-2 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, acute, distinctly longer than anterior lobe. Lateral sepals 15 mm long, 5 mm wide, obliquely elliptic-ovate, obtuse. Lip 10 mm long, 0.7-1 mm wide, linear, acute, pendent. Anther 5 mm long.
Habitat:
Humid grasslands and savanna. January.
Cultivation:
As given for the genus, cool growing terrestrial.
Notes:
It differs from closely related Disa welwitschii by lax inflorescence, spur reaching slightly below the dorsal sepal, and by acuminate posterior petal lobe.
Distribution:
Known from the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) only. Alt. 1490 m.
References:
Orchidaceae of West-central Africa, vol. 1, Gdansk University Press Gdansk 2010; Flora Zambesiaca Volume 11 Part one Pope 1995