Watsonia meriana
IRIDACEAE

This showy member of the iris family is a hardy perennial with tubular, peachy-red flowers to 2m and sword-shaped leaves to 60cm. The brightly coloured flower spikes attract many a sunbird pollinator in search of nectar. After seed set, the plant dies back, hiding out underground in the form of a corm, and resprouting again the following autumn when conditions are favourable. Watsonia meriana var. bulbillifera is able to produce bulbils (a small bulb-like structure that may fall off and produce a new plant) in its leaf axes. This cunning reproductive strategy has resulted in it becoming a bad invader in parts of Australia, New Zealand and California. The other more innocuous local variety, W. meriana var. meriana, reproduces from seed.
Flowering time: September-November
In your garden: Plant the corms in a sunny spot in seasonally inundated, well-drained, acid sand
Distribution: Southwestern Cape to Namaqualand along streambanks or in vleis
Illustration: P.J. Redouté, 1805-1816

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