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Wachendorfia paniculata, the common butterfly lily, is a species of plant of 10–90 cm (3.9–35.4 in) high, that emerges during the winter from an underground rootstock. It has entire, sword-shaped, mostly hairy, line- to lance-shaped, straight or sickle-shaped leaves, set in a fan at ground level with a lax to dense panicle consisting of pale apricot to yellow mirror-symmetric flowers with six tepals, three stamens and an undivided style that curves either to the right or left. The species is assigned to the bloodroot family. Flowering occurs between August and December at sea level, and until early February at high altitude, with a distinct peak from September to November. It can only be found in the Cape provinces of South Africa.
Koffiepit may be found from Nieuwoudtville in the southwest of the Northern Cape province to Port Elizabeth on the coast of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It mostly occurs on sandy soils that developed from the weathering of Table Mountain Sandstone, but it also can be found on alluvial sands, granitic soils, and clay that developed from Malmesbury shales. It occurs from sea level to approximately 1,700 m (5,600 ft) altitude. It grows in permanently moist shales, but also on moderately to very dry soils in fynbos on both acid and alkaline sands, and can be present in strandveld and renosterveld. It flowers mostly in younger vegetation, within several years after the last fire, probably because it favours an open vegetation. The system with the style bent to one side, and two of the three stamens to the other side is thought to be an adaptation that enhances cross-pollination. It is considered to be a least-concern species, due to its stable population trend.
Shortanther Bloodroot · Brown Butterflylily · Blood Root · Blood Root
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Wachendorfia paniculata 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.
