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Dierama pendulum
Also called Grassy Bell, Fairy Bells, Fairy Wand
Dierama pendulum, commonly known as fairy bell, hair bell and wedding bell, is a species of Iridaceae endemic to the Eastern Cape in South Africa and first collected in 1772 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg near Essenbos on the Kromme River or Kromrivier which flows down the Langkloof. In 1845 the genus Dierama was established by Karl Koch (1809-1879) based on this specimen. Before that the plant had been placed in various genera including Ixia, Sparaxis and Watsonia. The species name has been misapplied to D. inyangense, D. densiflorum and to D. plowesii.
'Dierama' is Greek for 'funnel' and describes the flower's shape, while 'pendulum' is the Latin word for hanging suspended.
The (Southern) Sotho people of the Kingdom of Lesotho use a decoction of the corm of Dierama pendulum as an enema with strongly purgative properties.
Dierama adelphicum · Dierama ambiguum · Ivory Hairbell · Dierama atrum · Dierama cooperi · Dierama cupuliflorum · Dierama densiflorum · Dierama dissimile · Dierama dracomontanum · Hidden Hairbell · Dierama elatum · Dierama erectum
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dierama pendulum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
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.
