1. Introduction
The orchid genus Pachites was established by John Lindley
in 1835 for Pachites appressa, a specimen of which was col-
lected by William Burchell on the Langeberg near Swellendam
on 15 January 1815. In his description Lindley remarked that it
is “A very curious plant, with a rostellum so thick and large as
completely to cut off the anthers from the stigmatic processes or
arms, which project forwards like two horns” (Lindley, 1830–
1840). Thus he derived the name from the Greek word pachys,
which means “thick” and alludes to the thick column (Kurzweil
and Linder, 2001). Harry Bolus, in the first volume of his
monumental work on the South African orchids, described a
second species, Pachites bodkinii, in 1893, based on a single
specimen collected by Alfred Bodkin on Muizenberg in 1890
(Bolus, 1893–1896).
Both species are slender to robust terrestrial herbs with root
tubers and cauline leaves. The inflorescence is a terminal raceme,