Hesperantha coccinea

Hesperantha coccinea
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Iridaceae
Genus: Hesperantha
Species: H. coccinea
Binomial name
Hesperantha coccinea
(Backh. & Harv.) Goldblatt & J.C.Manning

Hesperantha coccinea (kaffir lily,[1] river lily or crimson flag; syn. Schizostylis coccinea Backh. & Harv.) is a flowering plant in the family Iridaceae, native to Southern Africa and Zimbabwe.

It is a semievergreen perennial growing to 60 cm (24 in) tall, with slender lanceolate leaves up to 40 cm (16 in) long and 1 cm (0.4 in) broad. The flowers are red, occasionally pink or white, 30–35 mm long, with six petals; they are produced four to ten alternately on a spike in late summer to autumn.

Cultivation and uses

It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in gardens for its flowers, used in floristry. It is only hardy to between −5 to −10 °C (23 to 14 °F); in colder regions it is grown under glass.[2] It is sometimes known in cultivation as "Kaffir lily". "kaffir" is considered an offensive ethnic slur in parts of Africa.

Numerous cultivars are available, of which the following have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:-

  1. ↑ "BSBI List 2007". Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-02-25. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  2. ↑ Huxley, A., ed. (1992), New RHS Dictionary of Gardening, London: Macmillan, ISBN 978-0-333-77018-4
  3. ↑ "RHS Plant Selector - Hesperantha coccinea 'Jennifer'". Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  4. ↑ "RHS Plant Selector - Hesperantha coccinea 'Major'". Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  5. ↑ "RHS Plant Selector - Hesperantha coccinea 'Sunrise'". Retrieved 3 June 2013.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hesperantha coccinea.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/3/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.