Chasmanthe?

[Diane Whitehead]

I've looked through all my South African flower books and the closest I can come
to identifying this is Chasmanthe aethiopicum but it doesn't fit exactly, and the
blooming time is wrong.

It was growing on the beach near Langebaan on the West Coast in mid-September.

[daveyp1970]

Diane i think your plant is Antholyza plicata( Babiana thunbergii)

[Maggi Young]

Kew Plant list gives Babiana hirsuta (Lam.) Goldblatt & J.C.Manning as an accepted name, with  Babiana hirsuta (Lam.) Goldblatt & J.C.Manning,  Babiana thunbergii, Antholyza plicata, Antholyza hirsuta, and Anaclanthe namaquensis, Anaclanthe plicata, Antholyza hirta,  Antholyza namaquensis,Babiana thunbergii, Gladiolus mollis, and Gladiolus sulcatus [Illegitimate]as synonyms.


What a list 

[Ezeiza]

Look at the PURE quarzitic sand it grows in. Small wonder many of these bulbs are difficult to grow!

[Diane Whitehead]

Thanks, everyone.

I found it in the one wildflower book I didn't look at: Namaqualand.

Here's another photo that really shows the pure sand.

[ArnoldT]

Diane:

Is this it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chdeff_photos/4970740764/

[Diane Whitehead]

Yes, that is it under another one of its names.  The fuzzy stems and
pleated leaves are distinctive.

Thanks for pointing me to that flickr account.  I've now been able to
name another plant growing on that same beach.  Christian Defferrard
certainly has posted a lot of African plant photos.