Bonatea speciosa

Bonatea speciosa, commonly known as the green woodorchid is a terrestrial orchid, a tuberous perennial with leafy stem that reaches heights around 1 m. The tuber is flattened. 

The simple leaves sheathe the stem, broadly ovate in shape ending in acutely pointed tips. The blades are dark green, flat and soft, showing one central vein. Leaf dimensions are about 13 cm long and 4 cm wide.

The species distribution is from the Cape Peninsula and Malmesbury in the Western Cape, all along the southern and eastern coasts of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal to Mozambique, and also Zimbabwe.

The habitat is forest margins and coastal scrub from the coast to elevations around 1200 m, usually in sandy soils. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2009; Bean and Johns, 2005; Germishuizen and Clarke, 2003; Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).