Ornithoglossum vulgare

Ornithoglossum vulgare, commonly the brown tongue lily, is a cormous plant that grows to heights of 7 cm to 70 cm, depending on the variable conditions in its large, sometimes quite arid distribution range.

The two opposing arrays of usually about six blue-green or grey-green, lanceolate leaves that are long and straight but for slight curving down. The tips are acutely pointed, the lateral margins turned up to form channels.

The species is distributed in the Free State, Gauteng, the Northern Cape and Limpopo, as well as beyond the border in southern Africa.

The plant grows on sandy flats and stony slopes in rock crevices, often in alkaline soils. It is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Van Rooyen and Van Rooyen, 2019; iNaturalist; www.pacificbulbsociety.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).