Haemanthus Species Three

Haemanthus species m-z are found on this wiki page.


Haemanthus indexHaemanthus a-cHaemanthus d-l


Haemanthus montanus Baker is found in grassland and seasonal wetlands in the eastern region of South Africa. It grows in small areas of poorly drained shallow soil with an impervious substratum. It completes its annual cycle in four to five months, the period during which its fairly hostile habitat remains moist. It occurs in dense stands with large cream flowers appearing from December to January (mid summer), rapidly followed by two upright leaves. The seed ripens by mid-February and germinates rapidly around the parent plants. The leaves dry off and blow away by the end of May when all signs of the bulb population have vanished. Photos by Cameron McMaster of two wild populations and one taken by Liz Waterman August 2004 at the UC Botanical Garden in Berkeley, California. The last photograph is of eight-week-old seedlings from McMaster seeds sown in early 2009 by Byron Amerson.

Haemanthus montanus, Cameron McMasterHaemanthus montanus, Cameron McMasterHaemanthus montanus, Liz WatermanHaemanthus montanus seedlings, Byron Amerson

Photos below from Mary Sue Ittner and Bob Rutemoeller of a population in flower in the Eastern Cape January 2010 showing different stages of growth all on the same day.

Haemanthus montanus habitat, Mary Sue IttnerHaemanthus montanus bud, Mary Sue IttnerHaemanthus montanus in habitat, Mary Sue IttnerHaemanthus montanus in habitat, Mary Sue IttnerHaemanthus montanus fruit, Mary Sue IttnerHaemanthus montanus fruit, Mary Sue Ittner

Haemanthus namaquensis R.A.Dyer is a rare species from Namaqualand, South Africa. The leaves are hard, waxy and blue-green. The form pictured here is from near Steinkopf. It's one of my favourite Haemanthus species. Photos by Uluwehi Knecht.

Haemanthus namaquensis bloom,  Uluwehi KnechtHaemanthus namaquensis, Uluwehi KnechtHaemanthus namaquensis, Uluwehi Knecht

Haemanthus nortieri Isaac is a rare species that produces just one single, sticky, erect paddle-shaped leaf each winter. The third macro shot illustrates this sticky quality. We were very excited to have this bloom for the first time in the summer of 2007. Photos 1-3 by Uluwehi Knecht. The last photo is a habitat photo of plants in seed from Rachel Saunders.

Haemanthus nortieri bloom, Uluwehi KnechtHaemanthus nortieri leaf, Uluwehi KnechtHaemanthus nortieri stickiness, Uluwehi KnechtHaemanthus nortieri seed, Rachel Saunders

Photos from Alan Horstmann.

Haemanthus nortieri, Alan HorstmannHaemanthus nortieri, Alan HorstmannHaemanthus nortieri leaves, Alan HorstmannHaemanthus nortieri leaves, Alan Horstmann

Haemanthus pauculifolius Snijman & A.E.van Wyk has only one leaf, but since it is evergreen and the leaf persists it may exhibit two. Similar to H. albiflos, this species also produces photosynthetic bulbs that often position themselves to grow in an elevated fashion atop the surface of the medium in which they grow. It is a newly described (1993) summer rainfall species. Photos from Mary Sue Ittner showing the inflorescence and fruit in different stages. The fruit became a darker orange than in the photo and finally dropped off the plant. When I washed off the outer coating, some of the seeds were already showing signs of a radicle.

Haemanthus pauculifolius, Mary Sue IttnerHaemanthus pauculifolius, Mary Sue IttnerHaemanthus pauculifolius, Mary Sue IttnerHaemanthus pauculifolius fruit, Mary Sue IttnerHaemanthus pauculifolius fruit, Mary Sue Ittner

Photo 1-2 were taken by Nhu Nguyen. Photo 1 shows the seeds and photo 2 shows the seedling bulb. Upon germination each seed will produce a small bulb first instead of leaves. These primary bulbs slowly produce only one or two tiny leaves which persist through the first year. Photos 3-4 by Uluwehi Knecht show a Hawai'i-grown specimen in a 10 cm pot that began as 2 (clonal) bulbs and increased to 13 bulbs within 5 years. Uluwehi found that this species grew very well vegetatively in Honolulu but failed to flower. The lack of sufficiently cool temperatures in winter is suspected as the reason. It took readjusting to 2 cool-dry winters before these bulbs got back to a blooming cycle in the third winter. This suggests that flowers are formed in previous winters and only bloom after a year or two of maturity.

Haemanthus pauculifolius seeds, Nhu NguyenHaemanthus pauculifolius seedling, Nhu NguyenHaemanthus pauculifolius, leaf detail, Uluwehi KnechtHaemanthus pauculifolius, specimen plant, Uluwehi Knecht

Haemanthus pubescens L.f. see the Haemanthus pubescens page.
Representative photos of this species from Alan Horstmann, Uluwehi Knecht and Hans Joschko.

Haemanthus pubescens subsp. arenicolus, Alan HorstmannHaemanthus pubescens subsp. arenicolus, Uluwehi KnechtHaemanthus pubescens spp. pubescens, Hans JoschkoHaemanthus pubescens spp. pubescens, Hans JoschkoHaemanthus pubescens spp. pubescens, Hans JoschkoHaemanthus pubescens spp. pubescens, Hans Joschko

Haemanthus pumilio Jacq. has a small umbel of white flowers, and zebra-striped leaves. It is endangered, growing in only a few seasonally wet sites, the largest colony being at the Duthie Reserve at the University of Stellenbosch. The plants are stimulated to bloom by fire, and need surrounding grass to be cleared away in order to avoid predation by insects and rodents. There is an article on the species here. Photos of flowers from iNaturalist taken by Alex Lansdowne and shared under a CC BY-NC license and of leaves from Paul Emms shared under a CC BY-SA license.

Haemanthus pumilio, Alex Lansdowne, iNaturalist, CC BY-NCHaemanthus pumilio, Alex Lansdowne, iNaturalist, CC BY-NCHaemanthus pumilio, Alex Lansdowne, iNaturalist, CC BY-NCHaemanthus pumilio, Alex Lansdowne, iNaturalist, CC BY-NCHaemanthus pumilio leaves, Paul Emms, iNaturalist, CC BY-SA

Haemanthus sanguineus Jacq. see the Haemanthus sanguineus page.
Representative photos of this species from Cameron McMaster and Michael Loos.

Haemanthus sanguineus, Cameron McMasterHaemanthus sanguineus, Kleinmond, Cameron McMasterHaemanthus sanguineus, Cameron McMasterHaemanthus sanguineus, Cameron McMasterHaemanthus sanguineus, Cameron McMasterHaemanthus sanguineus, Michael Loos

Haemanthus spp.

Haemanthus sp. Huib Plateau is from the Huib Plateau in Namibia. Its miniature stature, light leaf colour, and thin leaves combined with its markings and hirsute margins make it very unique. The brown leaves surrounding it are on average 6 cm in length. Photo by Uluwehi Knecht.

Haemanthus sp. ex. Huib Plateau, Uluwehi Knecht

Haemanthus sp. Lüderitz is from the area of Lüderitz, Namibia. Its ovate, glaucous appressed leaves make it unique. Additionally its inflorescence is somewhat diminutive and thin. Photos by Uluwehi Knecht.

Haemanthus sp. ex. Lüderitz, Uluwehi KnechtHaemanthus sp. ex. Lüderitz, Uluwehi Knecht

Haemanthus sp. Namuskluft is from the area of Namuskluft, Namibia. It's a miniature species (see finger for scale) with thick appressed leaves that are very densely hirsute. The markings on the leaf undersides, in combination with the aforementioned foliar attributes make this unique. Photos by Uluwehi Knecht.

Haemanthus sp. ex. Namuskluft, Uluwehi KnechtHaemanthus sp. ex. Namuskluft, Uluwehi KnechtHaemanthus sp. ex. Namuskluft, Uluwehi Knecht

Alessandro Marinello has added pictures of the leaves of a bulb he purchased from a nursery in the USA that has yet to be identified.

Mystery Haemanthus, Alessandro Marinello

Haemanthus tristis Snijman is a rare species known only from a population in the southeast Tanqua Karoo where it grows in shaley soil in seasonal washes. It flowers in March in habitat in the Southern Hemisphere and is in leaf from April to October. It has two recurved leaves that appear after the inflorescence and white flowers that look cream when young and fade to pink. The first two photos were taken by Alan Horstmann. The last from Margaret Fox was taken on a farm in the Tankwa Karoo August 2022.

Haemanthus tristis, Alan HorstmannHaemanthus tristis leaves, Alan HorstmannHaemanthus tristis leaves, Margaret Fox

Haemanthus unifoliatus Snijman, found in Cape Province, Namaqualand. It is a solitary bulb and produces a solitary, stiff leaf (just as does H. nortieri). The light scarlet flower is striking, appearing well before the leaf. The first photo was taken by Doug Westfall. The next two photos are from Alan Horstmann. The last leaf photo, Kosies form, by Uluwehi Knecht.

Haemanthus unifoliatus, Doug WestfallHaemanthus unifoliatus, Alan HorstmannHaemanthus unifoliatus, Alan HorstmannHaemanthus unifoliatus, Uluwehi Knecht

Haemanthus indexHaemanthus a-cHaemanthus d-l


Return to the PBS wiki Photographs And Information page
Page last modified on January 13, 2023, at 05:18 PM
Powered by PmWiki