Ornithogalum juncifolium

Ornithogalum juncifolium, commonly the grass-leaved chincherinchee, is a bulbous perennial that reaches about 40 cm in height when in flower. The underground bulb is up to 4 cm in diameter with a long neck.

The flowers grow stalked in a raceme from 2 cm to 8 cm long. The white flowers spread to a diameter of up to 2 cm. There is sometimes a greenish band on the outside of the perianth segments. Few flowers are open at any given time. Flowering happens from spring to summer.

The species distribution is widespread in all provinces apart from the Northern Cape, absent from the northwest to central region. The photo was taken near the Sani Pass.

The habitat is damp to dry grassland, fynbos, renosterveld, succulent Karoo and thicket on exposed flats and rocky slopes. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century.

The plant has medicinal and cultural uses (Euston-Brown and Kruger, 2023; Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Pooley, 1998; Andrew, 2017; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).