Sparaxis grandiflora subsp. acutiloba

Sparaxis grandiflora is a summer deciduous, perennial geophyte, i.e. it produces new above-ground growth every winter from its spherical corm of 1,3 cm in diameter, covered in a fibrous coating. The species does not grow axillary cormlets on the stem as are found on some other Sparaxis species. The leaves are sword-shaped with thickened central midribs.

Subsp. acutiloba, commonly known in Afrikaans as the botterlelie (butter lily), is one of four subspecies of S. grandiflora, bears yellow flowers. It is the most commonly cultivated of the four. Its tepal tips are narrower than some of the others, probably giving rise to the subspecies name of acutiloba. There are sometimes dark markings at the tepal bases. The flowers grow in a spiralling spike on a stem that doesn’t branch.

The subspecies distribution is in the Western Cape in part of the Olifants River Valley between Citrusdal and Clanwilliam, a distribution well restricted within that of the species as a whole.

The habitat is renosterveld and vygieveld in shale and sandstone derived soils at low elevations. The habitat population of the subspecies is considered vulnerable early in the twenty first century, due to citrus farming (Manning, 2009; iNaturalist; iSpot; www.plantzafrica.com; www.pacificbulbsociety.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).