Huernia pillansii flowering

The flowers of Huernia pillansii grow solitary or in groups of up to four. They develop on short, hairless pedicels from near a stem base, flowering in sequence. The sepals are oval to lance-shaped and hairless, ending in prolonged, hair-like tips.

The flower has a star-shaped from the five long, tapering corolla lobes that spread horizontally and abruptly around the bell-shaped tube, dark maroon on its inside. The diameter of the corolla is from 3 cm to 5 cm. Flower colour is yellow, densely mottled with dull red or crimson, also on the tiny fleshy papillae or processes found all over the inside of the corolla.

The outer corona is five-lobed, coloured black or purple-black. Its lobes are broadly oblong and notched at their tips. The inner corona has five erect lobes spreading at their tips, purple-brown in colour.

Flowering happens in spring and summer (White and Sloane, 1937; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010).