Yesterday we had an absolutely fantastic outing to Gydo Pass to search for Orchids. Lester, who has been there previously, was our guide and he did an excellent job, showing us no less than 18 species . None of us had ever seen such a profusion of Orchids and we were thrilled to not only see many that we already knew, but a whole swathe of species that were new to us! Burnt and disturbed areas really do provide a wealth of these interesting plants and it always amazes me that they colonise habitats that appear to us to be so unfavourable.
Apart from Orchids, there were many other beautiful species and I have attempted to show some of our more interesting finds below.
Pterygodium orobanchoides
Moraea ochroleuca
Disa flexuosa
Gladiolus venustus
Moraea tripetala
Gladiolus quadrangularis
Ixia flexuosa
Satyrium erectum/humile hybrid
Satyrium pygmaeum
Satyrium pumilum
Satyrium lupulinum
Satyrium humile
Satyrium erectum
Satyrium coriifolium
Satyrium bicorne
Satyrium bicallosum
S erectum/humile hybrid
S pygmaeum
S lupulinum
S humile
Pterygodium alatum
Pterygodium catholicum
Pterygodium alatum
Moraea ochroleuca
Ixia micranda
Holothrix villosa
Holothrix cernua
Gladiolus venustus
Gladiolus alatus
Codonorhiza corymbosa
Gladiolus hyalinus
Moraea tripetala
Hyobanche sanguinea
Sebaea exacoides
Moraea flaccida
Moraea tripetala
Pauridia capensis
Microloma tenuifolium
Pelargonium elongatum?
Cyphia digitata
Satyrium coriifolium
Oxalis purpurea
Microloma tenuifolium
In heaven!
Disa inflexa
Disa flexuosa
Disa bracteata
Disa inflexa
Disa inflexa
D flexuosa
roncorylus 
Reblogged this on HERBS.
Hi Ronnie, lovely set of photos! I am going to be going through Gydo Pass this weekend and would love to find some of these beauties, especially D. flexuosa and S. pumilum. Unfortunately I won’t have much time to look around so do you perhaps have any info on the best spots to look for them or GPS points?
Nice to hear from you, Jess. The D flexuosa occur in a burnt area adjacent to the village of Op-Die-Berg and all the others are in disturbed ground on the left of the road as you go up the pass, especially through some blue gums. Good luck!