Description
Small round bulbs with narrow upright blue-grey leaves with a remarkable waved-undulate edge, picked out in deep wine purple. In this form they can reach 20 cm by 1.5 cm wide and they are heavily banded with reddish brown on the undersides.
Between the leaves develop crimson to cinnabar flower spikes with upright bracts of bright red-crimson. These cluster around the red anthers with yellow pollen.
If pollination is a success clusters of bright pink berries are produced, turning pulpy when ripe.
One of the more spectacular of the smaller species. This is a big-bulbed (for the species), clump-forming form, originally from the van Reenen se Water Mountains in Namaqualand, S. Africa. Not difficult in a well-drained, sandy soil under glass, dried off in summer and re-watered, for flowers, in autumn.
