Lapeirousia fabricii

Lapeirousia fabricii is a geophytic perennial reaching heights from 15 cm to 25 cm. Annual leaves and flowers are produced from the perennial, bell-shaped corm covered in a woody tunic.

The tubular flowers grow in branched spikes, the flowers spirally arranged around the stems. Leaf-like bracts on the stem, crisped upon their keels, subtend the long, thin flower tubes. Flower colour is pale cream or pink. The spreading tepals form a laterally symmetric corolla in the two-lipped flower. The lower tepals are marked red or maroon. They have claw-like appendages near the base of each tepal. Flowering happens in spring.

The plants are found in a broad band from Darling to Namaqualand, endemic to the Western Cape and the Northern Cape. The photo was taken in the Gifberg during October.

The habitat is fynbos on sandy and granite slopes. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2007; Manning and Goldblatt, 1996; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).