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Disa cardinalis



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21st March 2010


Disa cardinalis is a magnificent scarlet species that I was keen to grow. It was once considered to be a form of D.tripetaloides but in 1980 it was identified as a distinct species by H.P.Linder. It has been widely used in hybridisation and I wanted to try the original species.
In 2008 I bought a small plant from Germany but at the time I was still trying out a range of growing conditions and unfortunately in this case I got it wrong.
It grows by the side of streams in the Karoo under quite extreme conditions and I am looking for another!

27th July 2017


I was able to buy five seedlings when Hildegard Crous came over from South Africa to the RHS Orchid Show in 2015. This has been the first to flower and I have optimistically labelled it "Clone 2" in the hope that there is some variability among them. I imagine they are seedlings raised from a single pod, so I can't see why there would be, but there's always hope.
Grows along mountain streams from 440 - 750m on the northern slopes of the Langeberg in the Western Cape.

28th August 2020