Babiana is a large genus in the family Iridaceae from southern Africa. Species R-Si are found on this page.
Babiana species A-H - Babiana species I-P - Babiana species Sp-Z – Babiana index
Babiana radiata Goldblatt & J.C. Manning is found on sandy flats in the Litte Karoo. This species has firm linear erect leaves and purple symmetrical flowers in short erect spikes with a red center. Photo taken by Bob Rutemoeller of one of Alan Horstmann's plants.
Babiana regia (G.J.Lewis) Goldblatt & J.C.Manning syn. Babiana stricta var regia G.J.Lewis was raised to species rank in 2004. It grows on seasonally wet sandy and gravelly flats in the southwest Cape. It grows from 5 to 12 cm. high and has pleated hairy lanceolate leaves and deep blue flowers with a red cup and stamens with reddish brown pollen. This species is very similar to Babiana rubrocyanea but has stamens symmetrically arranged in the center of the flower enclosing the stigma. Photos taken by Bob Rutemoeller and Mary Sue Ittner in the southwest Cape in September 2006.
Babiana ringens (L.) Ker Gawl. is found on sandy flats in the South African Cape province. The first two pictures were taken in Western Australia by Sheila Burrow show the flower and the 'perch' for birds to perch on whilst they are drinking the nectar. The last two photos were contributed by the UC Botanical Garden.
The next three photos were taken in the wild in South Africa. Two were taken by Bob Rutemoeller near Darling, South Africa, September 2006. The third was taken by Rod Saunders.
Babiana rubella Goldblatt & J.C.Manning grows on sandy flats in the southern coastal plain in Namaqualand. It grows 10 to 12 cm high and has lanceolate to ovate hairy leaves held at right angles to the leaf sheaths and pale to deep pinkish purple fragrant (rose-like scent) flowers with yellow lower lateral tepals with pink tips. Photos taken by Alan Horstmann.
Babiana rubrocyanea (Jacq.) Ker Gawl. is found on granitic sands in the southwestern Cape. The first two photos were taken in Western Australia by Sheila Burrow and the third by Doug Westfall in Southern California where his plants were attracting a lot of attention.
Photos taken in habitat near Darling, South Africa September 2006 by Mary Sue Ittner. In the last picture it is shown with Romulea eximia.
Babiana salteri G.J.Lewis grows on dry stony flats and lower mountain slopes in the northwest Cape. It is a small plant, 7 to 10 cm., with pale mauve flowers with white to yellow blotches on the lower lateral tepals and lanceolate-oblong pleated hairy leaves held nearly at right angles to the stem. Photo by Alan Horstmann.
Babiana sambucina (Jacq.) Ker Gawl. grows on sandstone slopes and flats in fynbos and renosterveld over a broad area (northwest, southwest, southern, eastern Cape and the Karoo). This is a short plant growing from 5 to 14 cm high with hairy, pleated, linear to lanceolate leaves higher than the flowers and fragrant mauve to violet flowers with white and sometimes red markings. It is similar to Babiana framesii but has narrower and softer leaves and a straight flower tube. It flowers July to September. The first photos taken by Rod Saunders and the second by Alan Horstmann. Pictures 3 and 4 by Mary Sue Ittner were taken at the Karoo Desert NBG August 2006 in a raised bed. Number two may have been taken at the same time. 
Babiana sambucina ssp. longibracteata grows on sandy ground in the Bokkeveld Mountains in the Northern Cape. Leaves are linear and hairy. The flowers have a 40-55 mm. long perianth tube. It usually is found growing singly in sandy ground. Photos taken by Bob Rutemoeller September 2006 near Nieuwoudtville.
Babiana scariosa G.J.Lewis grows on dry sandstone or clay in fynbos or karroid scrub from the Bokkeveld Mountains in the northwest Cape to the western Little Karoo. It flowers August to September. It has linear-lanceolate, pleated leaves and blue to mauve flowers with white to pale yellow markings on the lower tepals. The lower tepals are clawed and united. The first photo taken by Alan Horstmann and the second by Cameron McMaster in the Hex River Pass.
Babiana secunda (Thunb.) Ker Gawl. grows on clay flats and lower slopes in renosterveld in the southwest Cape. It grows from 15 to 35 cm. high and is later blooming (October to November). Flowers are blue with yellow or white markings. This species is one of four species that has inverted flowers. The spike is inclined and the flowers face upward and the dorsal tepal and the unilateral stamens face the spike apex. The stamens and pollen of this species are supposed to be yellow and that is not the case in the photos below. The first photo was taken by Audrey Cain. The next three photos were taken by Mary Sue Ittner of plants she purchased as this species, but could be something else. Whatever it is, it has been a satisfactory plant, growing and blooming well for a number of years. See also Babiana inclinata which also has inclined flowers, but has anthers and pollen that are white, or purple or lilac.
Babiana sinuata G.J.Lewis grows on stony shale slopes in the northern and western Cape. It is a very distinctive species with crisped and undulate leaves with hairy margins that are twisted in the upped half. The pale blue mauve flowers are large with a violet central mark on the median tepal and have long arched stamens with united anthers. Photos by Mary Sue Ittner of flowers and corms on a 1 cm. grid. This plant has not been very successful in my northern California garden and in cultivation in an area with more rainfall and humidity the leaves were not very crisped and undulate.
Babiana species A-H - Babiana species I-P - Babiana species Sp-Z – Babiana index