disa uniflora

File:Disa uniflora 20220220 01.jpg.]]

Its range is restricted to the Sandstone Mountains of the South Western Cape, South Africa, west of Hermanus to Table Mountain and northwards into the Cederberg Mountains. It is common on Table Mountain, and the Back Table, but is rarely seen further south on the Cape Peninsula. The orchid grows near waterfalls, streamlets, and seeps in the mountains. It is, however, never found along the shores of dams whose water levels vary considerably during the year.

It is a fairly stout perennial 15 – 60 cm in height, spreading by stolons. The leaves are lance shaped, the lower ones spreading or semi-erect up to 25 cm long. The inflorescence is 1-3 flowered. The blooms are showy, and can be 10 cm across the laterally spreading sepals, which are scarlet to carmine in color. The middle, upright sepal is pinkish on the inside with scarlet veins. The petals, which are very much smaller than the sepals, are erect colored yellow with red spots at their tops, but pale scarlet at their bases. It blooms during the summer months, particularly in January, but continuing into March.

Its pollination is one of the most complex of all the orchids, involving the mountain pride butterfly, Aeropetes tulbaghia. Though unscented, the flowers attract the butterfly with its vibrant red colour and by rewarding it with nectar. This is in contrast to its congener D. ferruginea which is also exclusively pollinated by the mountain pride butterfly, but offers no nectar reward, instead attracting the butterfly by imitating species whose flowers do produce nectar.{{Cite journal |last1=Anderson |first1=Gregory J. |last2=Johnson |first2=Steven D. |last3=Neal |first3=Paul R. |last4=Bernardello |first4=Gabriel |date=November 2002 |title=Reproductive Biology and Plant Systematics: The Growth of a Symbiotic Association |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1555019 |journal=Taxon |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=637 |doi=10.2307/1555019|jstor=1555019 |hdl=11336/38665 |hdl-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=S. D. |date=1994-09-01 |title=Evidence for Batesian mimicry in a butterfly-pollinated orchid |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/doi/10.1006/bijl.1994.1062 |journal=Biological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=91–104 |doi=10.1006/bijl.1994.1062 |issn=0024-4066|url-access=subscription }}

The Mountain Club of South Africa, the Western Province Rugby Team and the Western Province sports use the image of this species on their badges and logos. It has been the Mountain Club's logo since its founding in 1891. The flowers are also depicted on the obverse side of the Pro Merito Medal (1975).

File:Disa uniflora (Peter Jonas Bergius 1767).jpg|Disa uniflora has been named by Peter Jonas Bergius in 1767

File:Disa uniflora column (19792867596).jpg|The column of the flower corresponds to the fusion of both male and female parts

File:Aeropetes1.JPG|Disa uniflora is entirely dependent on the mountain pride butterfly, Aeropetes tulbaghia, for its pollination

File:Disa uniflora (as Disa grandiflora) - Curtis' 70 (N.S. 17) pl. 4073 (1844).jpg|1844 plate by Walter Hood Fitch from Curtis's Botanical Magazine

File:Ethel May Dixie - Disa uniflora (cropped from Protea pityphylla, Disa uniflora, Gladiolus ornatus, and Antholyza ringens).jpg|Watercolour by Ethel Dixie.

File:Ethel May Dixie - Disa grandiflora (Disa uniflora).jpg|Coloured drawing by Ethel Dixie.

• Disa Park

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uniflora

Category:Endemic orchids of South Africa

Category:Taxa named by Peter Jonas Bergius