Cyrtanthus obliquus in Kirstenbosch

Cyrtanthus obliquus is one of the Cyrtanthus species called Knysna lily. Cyrtanthus elatus also carries that name. There are about 50 species of Cyrtanthus in the genus, many of them endemic to the eastern parts of South Africa.

C. obliquus also has other common names: soldier lily, justafina, umathaga (IsiZulu) and seeroogblom (Afrikaans), a name shared with several other local bulbous plants.

This is one of the harder Cyrtanthus species to grow in the garden (Gledhill, 1981; www.plantzafrica.com; www.mainlyamaryllidsgarden.com).