Cybistetes is a genus in the Amaryllidaceae family from Southern Africa. It is closely related to Ammocharis and there is some question as to whether it should be a separate genus. Both have spreading leaves that have a cutoff appearance when mature. There is only one species, Cybistetes longifolia.
Cybistetes longifolia is found on sandy or gravelly floats in the northwest and southwest Cape of South Africa to Namibia. Flowers are ivory to deep pink. The flowers of the first plant pictured below open whitish and then become pink-flushed, while the ivory coloured one often remains the same colour or fades to very pale pink. They are about 3 inches long, almost as wide, and strongly reflexed. There may be 20 or more of these sweetly fragrant flowers in a single umbel, which is borne on a fleshy stalk less then 12 inches(30cm) high. In the Cape they bloom during the summer months with the latest flowers appearing in the higher rainfall areas. The bulbs are quite large, the leaves are prostate on the soil surface and grow quite long. They prefer a well drained sandy soil with the bulb neck planted at soil surface. Grown and photographed by Bill Dijk.
Return to the PBS wiki Photographs And Information page