Drimia capensis

Drimia capensis, commonly known as the tallboy, in Afrikaans as the maerman (lean or skinny man) and earlier scientifically as D. forsteri, is a deciduous, bulbous perennial reaching heights up to 2 m when flowering. The bulbs that may form clumps are sometimes partly exposed above-ground.

The large, stalkless leaves, absent during flowering, grow in a basal tuft. The leaf-shape is oblong to elliptic, tapering to acutely pointed tips. The blades are smooth, grey-green to blue-green or dull green. The entire margins curve up laterally. Leaf dimensions are about 40 cm long by 10 cm wide.

Numerous small flowers are borne in a long, slender spike, grouped in dense whorls up the erect axis, the flower stem. The six white or cream tepals of each flower have green keels. The tepals grow in two whorls, curling back in their upper parts. The six exserted stamens with green anthers cohere with the style over the flower centre.

Each flower lasts only up to one day. Flowering happens from late spring to early autumn. Long-tongued bees are often the pollinators.

The flat, black seeds grown in triangular, three-locular capsules are each surrounded by a papery black wing.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from southern Namaqualand to the Cape Peninsula and eastwards, mainly coastally to the west of the Eastern Cape as far as Gqeberha. The photo was taken at Gouritz River Mouth during January.

The habitat is flats and slopes where the plants grow in clay or lime soils, also in deep sand. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Manning, 2007; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).