Babiana lineolata

Babiana lineolata is a cormous perennial reaching heights from 13 cm to 25 cm, the plants often occurring in dense colonies.

The leaves grow longer than the hairy flowering stem. A few sword-shaped leaves with pointed tips are positioned in a fan-shape. They are deeply pleated and hairy.

The odourless flowers grow in a spiral spike of up to twelve flowers on hairy bracts. They are blue or mauve, the lower tepals yellow to pale yellow, joined at the base in a lip, sometimes blue-tipped. Flowering happens mainly in the early part of spring.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from Tulbagh to Albertinia. The habitat is sandy flats and slopes where it rains in winter. The plants grow in sandy soil among fynbos. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; www.pacificbulbsociety.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).