Namaquanula bruynsii

A little-known species, flowering in late summer, when it makes crowded, hemispherical heads, of good-sized pale, flesh-pink flowers, darker in the throat and contrasted with red anthers (which yield cream pollen).

In cultivation it does well in pots in well-drained, sandy loam with full light. It must be kept totally dry during its dormant period in late spring, but needs to be started in July, far earlier than many summer-dormant bulbs, with a deluge of water. After this flower buds appear within a few days.

After flowering plants can be watered frequently, as long as their compost is sufficiently well-drained. Each watering should contain weak feed, to build bulb size. The plants remain wintergreen, on a Mediterranean growth cycle, until dormancy in early summer. Bulbs must then be kept totally dry.

A rare species, described only in 2005, though, as seems to be common with "new" S. African species, it was known, but nameless, for very many years before that. It occurs on the uppermost plateaux of the Tiras Mountains in S.W. Namibia at altitudes of over 1,900m.

Pictures © Connall Oosterbroek, with permission.