Haemanthus albiflos

Haemanthus albiflos, commonly known as the white paintbrush lily, is one of the three evergreen Haemanthus species. Some other species among these bulbous perennials produce flowers when there are no leaves present. H. albiflos is about 40 cm tall when in flower.

The broad, often pubescent leaves display faint, white hairiness, on the plant in picture mainly near the margins. Leaf colour varies in shades of bright to dull green with occasionally some shine. The leaves grow at angles to nearly erect. Four leaves are common per plant.

The Rooiberg, where this plant was photographed, is near the western extreme of the distribution of the species in the Western Cape. It is common in the Eastern Cape, the range extending along the KwaZulu-Natal coast.

The habitat is mostly coastal forest and thicket. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2009; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; http://redlist.sanbi.org).