Haemanthus pumilio

Haemanthus pumilio is a deciduous, bulbous perennial, a geophyte.

The plants are visited by ants, bees and butterflies. The flowers are usually seen after veld fires.

The species distribution is in a small part of the extreme southwest of the Western Cape, from Stellenbosch to near Wellington. The photo was taken near the Elandsberg Mountain.

The habitat is shale, granite and seasonally waterlogged clay flats in renosterveld and fynbos. H. pumilio is considered endangered in its habitat early in the twenty first century, due to habitat loss, invasive exotic vegetation and harvesting of the sought after plants (Bean and Johns, 2005; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).