Cyanella alba subsp. flavescens

Cyanella alba subsp. flavescens is a perennial geophyte reaching heights from 10 cm to 25 cm annually in its deciduous parts when in flower. The grass-like to thread-like leaves grow in a many-leaved, basal tuft, shorter than the inflorescence.

The species distribution is small, its range restricted in the northwest of the Western Cape to the Biedouw Valley and a part of the Olifants River Valley in the northern Cederberg. The photo was taken in the Biedouw Valley.

The habitat is stony plateaus and slopes of renosterveld in seasonally moist clayey soils. The subspecies is deemed rare in its habitat early in the twenty first century, although its population trend in nature is stable (Manning and Goldblatt, 1997; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).