Dierama reynoldsii in Lesotho

Dierama reynoldsii produces its nodding, wine-red flowers in the warmer part of the year. The small tuft of narrow leaves is well shorter than the inflorescence stalk.

This plant was seen in January at Qachas Nek, Lesotho, near the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape border, growing on a stony, grassland slope. The plants also grow in southern KwaZulu-Natal grassland and in the northeast of the Eastern Cape.

Confined to medium and high elevations in high summer rainfall land, the dormant winter phase inflicts severe cold, withstood by the corms (Pooley, 1998; http://redlist.sanbi.org).