Blue Disa

baurii: named after L.R. Baur (1825 - 1889), German apothecary from the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Terrestrial herb, 20-40 cm tall. Leaves basal from the flowering shoot, usually produced after flowering 5-10, narrowly linear, stiff and grass-like, up to 30 × 2 cm. leaves along the flowering stem few, 1.5-2.5 cm long completely sheathing. Inflorescence lax, 2-14-flowered, bracts, ovate, dry, rarely as long as the flowers. Flowers sky blue to purple-blue, often with a darker lip. Dorsal sepal broadly ovate, 10-20 mm long with an upcurved spur, 4-6 mm long. Lateral sepals deflexed, oblong, 10-18 mm long. Petals 2-lobed at the apex, lying inside the dorsal sepal. Lip 10-25 mm long, pointing forward, more or less broadly ovate, conspicuously fimbriate.

DRC, southern Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa