Trachyandra falcata curving leaves

This plant seen in the Ceres Karoo flowering in September is bokkool (antelope or goat cabbage), as Trachyandra falcata is commonly known. Several Trachyandra species bear the veldkool (veld cabbage) name, eaten raw or cooked.

The broad, sickle-shaped leaves are usually blue-green and smooth, their papery basal sheathes not visible here. A few secondary branches may develop next to the thick main raceme stalk, not spreading into the wide panicles of some Trachyandra species.

There is a bract below each raceme, growing from the point where it branches, in addition to the smaller bracts subtending all individual flowers (Manning, 2009; iSpot).