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Cyrtanthus falcatus
Also called Sickle Firelily
Cyrtanthus falcatus is a bulbous perennial from the Drakensberg escarpment of KwaZulu-Natal that bears sickle-shaped umbels of red, green and cream tubular flowers in spring and summer. It is not frost-hardy and needs bright, filtered light with a dry winter rest.
Cyrtanthus falcatus, the falcate fire lily, is a species of flowering plant in the amaryllis family Amaryllidaceae from the Natal region of South Africa. A bulbous perennial growing to 30 cm (12 in), it has glossy, strap-shaped leaves and erect burgundy-coloured stems. These bear umbels of 8-10 narrowly flared, pendulous tubular flowers in shades of red, green and cream in spring and summer. The umbels are bent over in a curious crook or sickle shape (hence The Latin specific epithet falcatus, "shaped like a sickle"). The plant goes dormant in winter. The bulb, shaped like a bowling pin, rests with its neck above the soil line.
The plant is not frost-hardy, but may be grown outdoors in a warm, sheltered location in temperate regions. Alternatively it may be grown under glass, with bright filtered sunlight. In cultivation in the UK, C. falcatus has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017)
The bulb is only known to grow at altitudes of up to 1,800 m (5,900 ft) on vertical cliffs, in the Drakensberg escarpment of the KwaZulu-Natal midlands, where the bulb is found between vertical or horizontal slabs of stone. It is probably pollinated by sunbirds.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cyrtanthus falcatus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
