Summer-Rainfall Brunsvigias

From my recent trip to South Africa I wanted to highlight the beautiful genus Brunsvigia (which honours the German House of Brunswick). They are known as the Candelabra Flower. There are some 20 species in the family Amaryllidaceae which grow in the semi-arid regions of South Africa. They produce amazing displays of colour in autumn. They are mostly winter-rainfall growers, however the two in my post are summer-rainfall growers.

Brunsvigia grandiflora- pictured in Maclear, Eastern Cape. It is 80cm tall and found in scattered grasslands at 1200-2300 m. It grows it leaves and flowers at the same time. Its leaves are 10-15 and the bulb is large. Its flowers are pink containing some 30-60 in a spreading inflorescence. In the wild it blooms from Jan-March.

Brunsvigia radulosa- photographed in Barkly East is also widespread in grasslands in higher altitude summer-rainfall regions of the Eastern Cape. The flowers are red blooming January or February in the wild.