Boophone Species

Per Hendrik van Zijl, of Van Zijl Guesthouses, Nieuwoudtville Cape. Stopover on your way to and from the Kgalagad. ...Read Moreudtville.co.za" target="_dgnew"rel="nofollow">http://nieuwoudtville.co.za said about some of his photos above:
"Nieuwoudtville, South Africa. Bulb Capital of the World.

These photographs of Boophone haemanthoides subsp. ernesti-ruschii were taken this morning, Friday 22 December 2017.

This bulb is a member of the family Amaryllidaceae. I have been visiting this site where the photos were taken for more than 20 years and they flower every year at the same time. This population is always the last flowering bulb to appear at the end of the year and at a different locality close by they will only come into flower by mid-January. This year, however, for the first time, I have found not only bubs coming into flower, but also some bulbs which are already coming into seed. It is always a surprise to see these flowers emerging at a time when literally nothing else is in flower.

When the flowers first appear, the appearance is much of the genus Haemanthus, but the flower heads, when coming into seed, look much like the flowers of the genus Brunsvigia when they come into seed.

This bulb is seldom seen in flower because you must be a hardened enthusiast to venture out into the summer heat.

Hendrik van Zijl
http://www.nieuwoudtville.co.za"