Dilatris corymbosa

Dilatris corymbosa, commonly known in Afrikaans as the rooiwortel (red root), is an evergreen perennial growing erect, grey-haired stems from a short, woody red rhizome with red flesh. The plant reaches heights from 25 cm to 60 cm.

The narrowly sword-shaped leaves grow hairless and leathery in a dense fan, often flushed red near the base. The leaf margins face the stem and the bases are folded, partly enclosing the base of the leaf next above it.

The species distribution is in the southwest of the Western Cape, from the Cape Peninsula northwards to Tulbagh and eastwards to Caledon.

The habitat is seasonally moist fynbos slopes and flats in sandstone derived soils. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2007; Bean and Johns, 2005; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; https://www.worldfloraonline.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).