Brachystelma macropetalum

Brachystelma macropetalum is an erect plant bearing green, long-lobed, spidery flowers. The corolla lobes do not join at the top as they do in the case of several other brachystelmas. It is these lobes or petals that earned the plant the specific name of macropetalum, large petals.

B. macropetalum grows in eastern Mpumalanga and Limpopo and beyond the South African border. Its habitat is damp, mountainous parts and rocky woodland. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

Brachystelma is a genus of geophytic herbs with fleshy tubers. They occur mainly in southern Africa, the rest of Africa and Asia. The name means short crown, wreath or garland (Onderstall, 1996; http://redlist.sanbi.org).