Whiteheadia is a one-species genus in the family Hyacinthaceae. It doesn't arouse enthusiasm in flower writers, and I expected to like it only out of family loyalty, but when I saw it growing, I liked it for its robust self. It grows in arid winter-rainfall areas of South Africa, tucked in under rocks to provide shade. Its cluster of green flowers with a topknot of bracts looks similar to Eucomis, and they are both in the same family. Rodents are said to sip its nectar, and there are lots of rodent droppings to the left of the flowerstalk in the second picture.
Whiteheadia bifolia The first two photographs were taken by Diane Whitehead in Namaqualand in early September 2006. Two more pictures were taken in the same place at the same time by Mary Sue Ittner and Bob Rutemoeller.
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