Hesperantha is a cormous genus in the Iridaceae family from southern and tropical Africa. Species d-j are found on this wiki page. See the links below for information about this genus and other species.
Hesperantha species a-c - Hesperantha species l-p - Hesperantha species q-z - Hesperantha index
Hesperantha erecta (Baker) Benth. ex Baker is found on granite outcrops, granitic sands, sandveld and renosterveld in the northwestern and southwestern Cape. The creamy white flowers are day flowering and some populations are acrid musk scented in the afternoon. Growing from 10 to 22 cm high, it has sword-shaped leaves, flowers late winter to early spring (August-September), and is pollinated by bees. The first photo was taken by Mary Sue Ittner. The second photo from iNaturalist was taken by Nick Helme in September in the Western Cape and shared under a CC BY-SA license.
Hesperantha falcata (L.f.) Ker Gawl. is widespread growing on sandstone and shale slopes and coastal flats from the Northwest Cape to the Eastern Cape. It has white or yellow flowers, with brown or red outer tepals. The white fragrant (jasmine to frangipani or acrid musk scented) flowers open late in the afternoon or evening and the yellow unscented flowers during the middle of the day. It is pollinated both by bees and moths. The white flowers are very similar to Hesperantha cucullata, but are smaller and the corms of each species are different. Hesperantha falcata corms are bell-shaped with a flat base. Photos 1-4 were taken in the Overberg by Cameron McMaster. The last two photos were taken in the Little Karoo by Bob Rutemoeller.
Hesperantha flava G.J.Lewis grows in clay flats and thin shale rock sheets and arid renosterveld in the Little Karoo, the Roggeveld to Namaqualand. Growing from 4 to 6 cm high and flowering in winter and early spring (May-August), this species has a rounded corm with an oblique flat side and one or two flat leaves. The one or two flowers per spike are yellow, flushed brown, and sweetly scented. The flowers open only a half hour before sunset and remain open all night. The first photo from the book Plants of the Klein Karoo courtesy of Jan and Anne Lise Schutte-Vlok. The other photos from iNaturalist were taken by Nick Helme in May in the Komsberg and shared under a CC BY-SA license.
Hesperantha grandiflora G.J.Lewis is an erect species that grows from 15 to 70 cm and is found in damp grassy and often shady places or forest margins, cliffs and near streams. It is endemic to the Drakensberg. Flowers are large and pink and open during the day. This species has a tube that is bent so the flowers face to the side with the tepals held vertically. Stamens and style branches are unilateral with anthers and style arms arching downward. This species is pollinated by long proboscid flies. It flowers in the wild from January to April. The first photo by Cameron McMaster was taken at Naude's Nek. The second photo is from Rod Saunders.
Hesperantha hantamensis Schltr. ex R.C.Foster is a white flowered species from the Hantamsberg. It appears to be restricted to one locality and grows on shale flats, preferring soils derived from the igneous rock dolerite. The general area that it comes from is one of the coldest areas in South Africa, with winter nights often falling well below 0 °C. There are potential threats to this species from road widening and dam expansion. This is an easy species to grow in well drained media, and it does well in a cool garage under t5 lights with four tubes. It is a short species not more than 6 in (15.24 cm) tall in cultivation so it can be accommodated in collections or gardens in suitable climates where space is an issue. Plants can be hand pollinated to produce seed, which germinates readily under cool conditions. I have not yet tried this species outdoors but it should be more tolerant of frost than most Cape bulbs. Information and the first photo from Ernie DeMarie. The second photo is from Rod Saunders.
Hesperantha humilis Baker is a short plant with deep pink to reddish flowers that open in the day when the temperatures are warm enough. It flowers winter to spring and is found growing on sandstone and shale slopes, mainly in renosterveld. The first two photos from Bob Rutemoeller show plants grown from Silverhill Seeds blooming January 2004. Photos 3-5 were taken by Mary Sue Ittner. Two more pictures show the front and back of blooms from the same descendants of the plants of 2004 blooming in January 2008. The final photo shows the corms on a 1 cm grid. The last photo taken by Mark Mazer shows the bud.
Photos below were taken by Cameron McMaster and Alan Horstmann in habitat near Sutherland in the Roggeveld.
Photos from iNaturalist were taken by Nick Helme in August in the Drie Kuilen Nature Reserve in the Little Karoo and shared under a CC BY-SA license. He wrote: "locally very common on clay soils after fire; open during the day, unscented."
Hesperantha huttonii (Baker) Hilliard & B.L.Burtt grows in Afro-montane forests where it flowers profusely, often in light shade, on cliffs, along forest roads and streams in the Eastern Cape mountains. Growing to 30 cm, this species which blooms in fall has pale pink flowers in a long slender floral tube. Photos from Cameron McMaster taken in the Eastern Cape include a picture of a rare white form seen in the forest below Mt. Kubusie. This species is open during the day, odorless and pollinated by long proboscid flies.
Photos by David Pilling; the scale in photo 3 is 1 mm; the pot in photo 4 is 3 inches square. The point here is that flowering size bulbs are tiny.
Corm like propagules found on the dried stems in November (with 1 mm scale).
Hesperantha species a-c - Hesperantha species l-p - Hesperantha species q-z - Hesperantha index