Watsonia is a genus in the Iridaceae family of over 50 species from both the winter and summer rainfall areas. Many are quite tall with fans of sword-shaped leaves and showy flowers. Watsonia species N-Z are found on this page.
Watsonia species A-F - Watsonia species G-M - Watsonia index
Watsonia pillansii L. Bolus, syn. Watsonia beatricis J.W.Mathews & L.Bolus , syn. Watsonia socium J.W.Mathews & L.Bolus is found from the Eastern Cape to KwaZulu-Natal where it is found in sandy soils mostly at low elevations near the coast. It usually has scarlet to orange flowers and is evergreen, preferring year round moisture. It flowers late spring to summer. The first two pictures show variation in the color of the flowers and the third a large number blooming in habitat. Photos by Cameron McMaster. The last picture was taken by Rod Saunders.
Photos 1-2 show a flowering in mass at Potter's Pass near East London in October 2007, photos 3-4 are of rare pink flowers, and photo 5 was taken at Gaika's Kop. Photos from Cameron McMaster. The last photo was also taken at Gaika's Kop by Mary Sue Ittner.
According to Peter Goldblatt in his monograph, The Genus Watsonia, this species is difficult to tell apart from Watsonia knysnana and when it is in the same range a series of intermediates can be found. These are hybrids with variability of bract length and flower color from cream to pale pink to red or maroon. Plants seen January 2010 and photographed by Mary Sue Ittner near Hogsback on Gaika's Kop could be either of these species or hybrids of the two.
Watsonia pulchra N.E.Brown ex Goldblatt plants grow in open grassland or light woodland from northeastern Natal through Swaziland and the eastern Transvaal. This species grows from 60 to 120 cm high and has a spike of 30 to 60 pink to purple, or maroon, occasionally white, flowers. It is distinctive for its dry brown bracts that clasp the stem. It flowers in the summer. Photo taken by Rod Saunders.
Watsonia rogersii L.Bolus grows on rocky sandstone slopes and also in granite and clay in the Southwest Cape. It grows to 50 cm high and has lax, sometimes branched, spikes of purple-pink flowers and blooms from October to December. Photo taken by Cameron McMaster in the Overberg at Houwhoek Pass.
Watsonia schlechteri L.Bolus grows on rocky sandstone slopes in fynbos over a wide area of the Cape Province. Flowering mainly after fire, this species grows from 40 to 100 cm high and has scarlet flowers in an elongate spike. Photos by Cameron McMaster were taken at Napier and Boskloof in the Overberg.
Watsonia socium is a synonym for Watsonia pillansii
Watsonia sp. This picture of a Mystery bulb grown and photographed by Ann Marie Rametta was not positively identified. It could be a hybrid. It was suggested that it could be Watsonia versfeldii, but it seems unlikely that if it was purchased in southern California it would be this species.
Watsonia spectabilis Schinz is native to sandy flats and plateaus, often found near water, from the Western Cape to the Agulhas Plains. It grows from 25 to 50 cm. high and has large tubular scarlet flowers in a few-flowered spike. Photos 1-2 taken by Cameron McMaster near Napier in the Overberg. Photos 3-5 taken by Andrew Harvie west of Stellenbosch in the western Cape.
Watsonia stenosiphon L.Bolus grows on coarse rocky sandstone soils along the southern Cape coast. It rarely blooms except after fires, but then blooms in profusion the spring following a fire in the previous summer or fall. It grows from 20 to 45 cm. and has a slender long narrow perianth tube. Flowers are salmon-orange, occasionally mauve, often with a darker line in the lower midline of the lower three tepals. Photos taken by Audrey Cain and Rod Saunders.
Watsonia vanderspuyae L.Bolus is found in the western Cape mountains at mid to upper elevations where is grows in rocky situations, often wedged in crevices where it is protected from predation. It grows to 2 meters and has broad leaves with thickened margins and large bright red long tubed flowers. It blooms infrequently in the wild and sometimes leaves are not produced unless there have been fires in the previous summer. Photo by Rod Saunders.
Watsonia versfeldii J.W.Mathews & L.Bolus is found on sandstone slopes in the Northwest Cape. It is a tall plant with pink-purple flowers. It blooms in the spring.
Watsonia zeyheri L.Bolus grows in marshes on sandstone from the Cape Peninsula to the Agulhas coast. This species grows from 50 to 120 cm high and has bright orange flowers. It blooms late spring into summer. Photos by Cameron McMaster taken November 2005 at Arniston in the Overberg.
Watsonia species A-F - Watsonia species G-M - Watsonia index