PlantLife Volume 57.1, July 2024. Cover

Brunsvigia grandiflora (umqele wenkunzi (Z)) splashing their bright colours in the otherwise uniform yellow-green of the grasslands of Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve.

These perennial robust geophytes can grow up to 800 mm tall and the bulb neck is typically exposed. While the flowering time for this species of the Eastern summer rainfall region of South Africa is from January to April, the population within this nature reserve seems to flower towards the end of this range.

The broad tongue-shaped leaves die back after the plant flowers. The flower head may have well over 30 flowers. The flowers are pink with a darker pink stripe along the middle of the petals. The fruits are ovoid capsules. Once the flowers have died back, the whole inflorescence dries and breaks off at the base to tumble around in the wind, dispersing the seeds along its route.