Indigofera hilaris adding a little colour

Indigofera hilaris, the red bush indigo, grows in the eastern region of South Africa in both coastal scrub and summer rainfall grassland. The distribution ranges from the Eastern Cape across KwaZulu-Natal into all of the provinces north of the Vaal River.

Flowering is best after grass fires. The blooming season lasts from midwinter to midsummer, but the fire season ends once the summer rain has turned the grass green. Fire destroys, but in the plant world it also rearranges the fortunes of competing species, starting and concluding cycles of growth and flowering, as well as of seasonal and longer interval domination in a habitat. Grassland is one of the biomes with comparatively high susceptibility to the impact of fire (Van Oudtshoorn, et al, 1991).