Watsonia

Watsonia is a genus in the Iridaceae family of over 50 species from southern Africa. This genus belongs to the subfamily Crocoideae and with Cyanixia , Micranthus, Pillansia, Savannosiphon, Thereianthus, and Zygotritonia the tribe Watsonieae. Species are centered in the southwestern Cape of South Africa but extend north into Namaqualand and east into the summer rainfall areas of eastern South Africa, Swaziland, and Lesotho. Growing from a corm, species are both evergreen and perennial. Many are quite tall with fans of sword-shaped leaves and spikes of showy (often many) flowers that are usually pink, bright red or orange. They are popular garden plants in countries where they are hardy with many attractive cultivars available. Their bright colors and tall flowering spikes can make them a very prominent part of the garden when in bloom. Cameron McMaster wrote articles about this genus for Farmers Weekly in 2008 and 2009. The first is an introduction and discussion of the winter flowering species. The second discusses the summer rainfall species. A few species have become aggressive weeds in Australia, New Zealand, and California, especially Watsonia meriana var. bulbillifera. For more information consult Peter Goldblatt’s Watsonia monograph.

For more photos and information about the species select the appropriate wiki page or click on the name in the table below:

Watsonia species
Watsonia aletroides	Watsonia amatolae	Watsonia angusta	Watsonia borbonica
Watsonia coccinea	Watsonia confusa	Watsonia densiflora	Watsonia distans
Watsonia emiliae	Watsonia fourcadei	Watsonia galpinii	Watsonia gladioloides
Watsonia humilis	Watsonia knysnana	Watsonia laccata	Watsonia latifolia
Watsonia lepida	Watsonia marginata	Watsonia marlothii	Watsonia meriana
Watsonia occulta	Watsonia pillansii	Watsonia pulchra	Watsonia rogersii
*Watsonia roseoalba	Watsonia schlechteri	Watsonia spectabilis	Watsonia stenosiphon
Watsonia tabularis	Watsonia vanderspuyae	Watsonia versfeldii	Watsonia watsonioides
Watsonia wilmaniae	Watsonia zeyheri