Watsonia fourcadei

Watsonia fourcadei, commonly known in Afrikaans as suurkanol (sour bulb), a name shared with other watsonias, is a robust, deciduous perennial that annually reaches about 2 m in height. The specific name, fourcadei, is derived from the surname of Henri Georges Fourcade, a French-born South African forester and botanist, after whom a mountain in Antarctica is also named.

The sword-shaped, blue grey leaves are tough, fibrous with raised midribs. The leaf tips are acutely pointed. The leaves are up to 4 cm wide.

The species distribution is southerly in the Western Cape from the Cape Peninsula to the southwest of the Eastern Cape as far as Gqeberha. The photo was taken in Sir Lowry’s Pass.

The habitat is rocky and sandy fynbos slopes. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).