Tritonia securigera subsp. securigera

Tritonia securigera subsp. securigera, the orange tritonia and in Afrikaans the tandkalkoentjie (little tooth turkey), grows annually from a corm to heights ranging from 15 cm to 40 cm. The leaves are sword-shaped and may be crisped.

The flower has a prominent tall yellow protuberance on each of the three lower tepals. These obstacles can only be cleared by nectar-seeking bees by loading pollen from the anthers onto their backs for unloading at the next flower.

The three yellow “teeth” can be seen in these flowers photographed near Oudtshoorn. So can the oblong purple anthers at the tops of the two visible stamens and the taller style with its three-branched stigma under the hooded dorsal tepal. The bright orange flowers of about 2 cm in diameter appear in spring.

The plants are distributed in the Western and Eastern Cape more widely than the Little Karoo, from west of Riversdale by the coast to Graaff-Reinet in the Great Karoo.

The habitat is clayey slopes. This subspecies is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

The other subspecies, subsp. watermeyeri found only in the Montagu, Barrydale and Anysberg region, is considered rare (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; Manning, 2009; http://redlist.sanbi.org).