Disa stairsii

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}

{{italic title}}

{{Speciesbox

| image = Disa stairsii 60855306.jpg

| taxon = Disa stairsii

| authority = Kraenzl. (1892){{cite web

| url = http://www.ipni.org/ipni/idPlantNameSearch.do?id=630258-1

| title = Plant Name Details

| access-date = 2008-05-06

| author = International Organization for Plant Information (IOPI)

| author-link = IPNI

| work = International Plant Names Index

}}

| synonyms =

Disa bakeri Rolfe

Disa gregoriana Rendle

Disa luxurians Kraenzl.

Disa wissmannii Kraenzl.{{cite web

|url = http://www.ville-ge.ch/cjb/bd/africa/details.php?langue=an&id=43399

|archive-url = https://archive.today/20130116073809/http://www.ville-ge.ch/cjb/bd/africa/details.php?langue=an&id=43399

|url-status = dead

|archive-date = January 16, 2013

|title = Disa stairsii Kraenzl. record n° 43399

|access-date = 2008-05-07

|work = African Plants Database

|publisher = South African National Biodiversity Institute, the Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève and Tela Botanica

}}

}}

Disa stairsii (Rwenzori mountain orchid{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}) is a species of Disa of the family Orchidaceae that can be found growing with the giant heathers on the Rwenzori Mountains of mountains in East Tropical Africa as well as in the Congo in West-Central Tropical Africa.{{cite web |title=Disa stairsii Kraenzl. |work=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:630258-1 |access-date=2020-07-03 }}{{cite web

|url=http://www.systbot.unizh.ch/datenbanken/rwenzori/Rwenzori_desktop.pdf

|title=Common plants of the Rwenzori, particularly the upper zones

|access-date=2008-05-06

|author=H. Peter Linder and Berit Gehrke

|author-link=University of Zurich

|date=2 March 2006

|publisher=Institute for Systematic Botany, University of Zurich

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080530005602/http://www.systbot.unizh.ch/datenbanken/rwenzori/Rwenzori_desktop.pdf

|archive-date=2008-05-30

|url-status=dead

}}

Common in the heath belt of the Ruwenzori Range Disa stairsii is cardinal red, distinct from the other foliage by its single spur which is borne on the top of its flower and is generally growing in moss between the altitudes of {{convert|2,800|-|3,400|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}}.

On Kilimanjaro D. stairsii also grows among the heath along with Erica arborea and Erica rossi, is "small pink flowered" and is hidden by clumps of grasses along with the white flowered Anemone thomsonii.{{cite book

| last = Stewart

| first = Alex

|author2=Alexander Stewart

| title = Kilimanjaro: A Trekker's Guide

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6vu6cgH5NvMC

| access-date = 2008-05-09

| date = 2004

| publisher = Cicerone Press Limited

| isbn = 1-85284-413-2

| chapter = Climate

| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6vu6cgH5NvMC&pg=PA120

}}