Watsonia fourcadei
Posted: October 3, 2016 Filed under: Botany | Tags: Iridaceae, Watsonia Leave a commentWatsonia fourcadei J.Mathews & L.Bolus has been in cultivation in Australia since the 19th century but does not appear to have contributed to the pedigrees of any hybrid cultivars bred in this country. It is widespread in the mountains of the southern Cape but absent from the Cape Peninsula where it is replaced by the related W. tabularis J.Mathews & L.Bolus.
Plants grown from seed recently imported from South Africa have flowers in a range of pink shades from pale salmon with a darker tube to the medium pink shown in the photo. They are evergreen, making most growth in mid summer to autumn but flowering in October to December.
The flowers have an arched, narrow cylindric tube about 6 cm long and perianth lobes 26 to 32 mm long incurved to form a cup-shaped limb.
Reference
Goldblatt, P. (1989) The genus Watsonia. 148 pp. (National Botanic Gardens: Kirstenbosch) ISBN 062012517
ādarśajñāna 