Ferraria crispa

Ferraria crispa, commonly called the sea spider or the black flag and in Afrikaans inkpotjie (the little ink pot), spinnekopblom (spider flower) and krulletjie (little curl). Such a range of names confirms that the flowers do not go unnoticed.

The plant is a monocot belonging to the Iris family. It grows from a naked, disc-shaped corm. The flower colour range includes cream, light yellow, brown, maroon, black and even green with complex patterns of stripes, dots and other markings.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from the Cederberg to the Cape Peninsula, eastwards to George and into the Eastern Cape as far as the Baviaanskloof.

The habitat is deep sandy or loamy soils, on granite outcrops, often near the coast. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Manning and Goldblatt, 1996; www.pacificbulbsociety.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).