Story behind the art of Daleen Roodt
28th Annual International
American Society of Botanical Artists and Marin Art & Garden Center
Sisters of The Cavern
Disperis fanniniae
The majestic Drakensberg Mountain range has the highest mountains in South Africa, ranging up to 4,482 m or almost 15,000 feet. It is known for its breathtaking beauty of steep cliffs and rugged buttresses, covered in lush grasslands and indigenous forests with crystal mountain streams carving through the landscape. Over 180 million years old, the massive bulge of earth formed by basalt lava has been carved by erosion, forming its characteristic ridges that resemble the ridged scales of dragons. Situated in the heart of the Northern Drakensberg, in the Amphitheater World Heritage Site, is the beautiful resort The Cavern, run by a family for 75 years. In the late summer of 2025, I attended a time-honored nature journaling workshop in this beautiful location.
My hope was to find a little mountain orchid that could be painted on a small square of vellum I brought along. To my great delight, on the first day, I found a single, isolated orchid with hints of lilac, and a purple stem bleeding violet into the leaf veins. I was hopeful that there would be more plants in the area, and on day two, I discovered an entire colony hidden between the bushes just off our path! The same species of forest-dwelling orchids, these inflorescences were a chatter of faces, with their peaked silky snowcaps and popping, speckled eyes – a joyful burst of slender orchids growing amidst a mosaic of golden leaf litter in densely shaded mountain forest. There I sat nestled between bush and branches, leaning against a fallen trunk, feet up against the leaf-carpeted slope as I sketched the little grouping of linen-white orchids. Not too far off, between the Fern Forest and the Natural Pool, a handful of women were scattered in the natural bush, painting their hearts out.
Disperis is a very distinct, easily recognized orchid genus. The flowers have two characteristic spurred sepals (Greek di- means two, and speris- means spur). Even though it would be expected that these spurs hold oil, they are empty, and the sepal spurs might simply be there to cover the rostellum arms, which hold the pollinaria. Instead, there is oil hidden deep inside the hood of the orchid. The narrowed lip of Disperis is positioned erect inside the hood, with a stalk-like base and a larger appendage pointing towards the back. The tip of this appendage has a dense cluster of oil-secreting hairs. When the forest-dwelling, oil-collecting bee Rediviva colorata finds Disperis fanniniae, it pokes its head into the hood and sticks its forelegs in on either side of the base of the lip. As the oil-secreting region is rubbed with the forelegs, each leg contacts the sticky pad to which each pollinarium is attached. When the legs are withdrawn, so are the pollinaria, perfectly positioned on the bee to touch the stigma lobes of the next orchid, and so the pollination process is completed.
The species fanniniae, was named for Marianne Fannin, an Irish botanical artist known for her work on South African orchids and other flora. Fannin was also mother to the famous South African ornithologist Austin Roberts. In the spirit of my weekend there, I named this painting “Sisters of the Cavern,” dedicating it not only to the three-decade legacy of botanical art taught there by Elsa Pooley and Gillian Condy, but also in honor of the many women, who for many moons have creatively connected spirit and soul in these sacred mountains, and with nature-loving motives have continued to enrich our floral heritage.
References:
Steiner, K.E. 1993. Oil orchids and oil bees in southern Africa – Disperis and Rediviva. S. Afr. Orchid Journal, 24, 2-5.
www.cavern.co.za
https://www.nature-reserve.co.za/south-africa-info-drakensberg.html
Next Story
Back to List
Read more about this artist's work: 27th Annual