Brunsvigia namaquana D.Müll.-doblies & U.Müll.-doblies

Deciduous bulbous herb, 25-100 mm tall when flowering, sometimes up to 150 mm in cultivation. Bulb solitary, hypogeal, ±ovoid, 20-35 x 15-28 mm, sometimes extended into a neck up to 50 x 10 mm, inner tunics fleshy to papery, cream-coloured, outer tunics brittle, tan-coloured. Leaves 2 or 3(4), absent or emerging at flowering, prostrate, upper 2 ± opposite, lowermost 1 (when present) curved sideways, ± strap-shaped to narrowly elliptical, tapering apically, 14-100 x 10-28(-35) mm, pale green, often ± flaccid, adaxial surface bearing widely-spaced pustules on longitudinal veins, each with a straight, erect, straw-coloured bristle 1.6-4.0(5.5) mm long, abaxial surface smooth, margin narrowly cartilaginous, with a single row of micropapillae. Inflorescence 4-8(-11)-flowered, loosely spreading at anthesis, 30-120 mm diam., enlarging slightly in fruit; scape erect, 15-60 mm long, up to 100 mm in cultivation, compressed-elliptical in transverse section, ±3-6 mm wide, pinkish brown; spathe valves 2, oblong-lanceolate, 13-30 x 5-8 mm, membranous, delicate pink, soon reflexed; bracteoles filiform; pedicels of outer flowers straight, those of inner flowers sometimes geniculate immediately below ovary, 10-30(-55) x ±2 mm, trigonous, pinkish brown. Perigone zygomorphic, pale to dark pink, with darker pink veins, pale green to cream-coloured near base, occasionally slightly scented; tube inconspicuous, up to 1.5 mm long; tepals recurved, either all curved upwards above horizontal plane, or 1 spreading slightly downward and widely separated from others, narrowly oblong-lanceolate, 11-24 x 2.5-4.5 mm, margin plane or ± crisped; stamens of various lengths, ± as long as or up to 8 mm longer than tepals, deflexed slightly below horizontal plane at anthesis or markedly so in flowers with pedicels geniculate below ovary, upturned distally; filaments fused basally for up to 2 mm long, tightly clustered in lower half, with or without narrow wings near base of up to 2 mm long, wings sometimes tipped with a delicate tooth up to 1 mm long, pink with pale lime-green towards base; anthers oblong, 2.5-4.3 mm long before dehiscence, maroon; pollen cream-coloured. Ovary ±3-angled, ±2-4 mm diam., brownish pink to greenish pink, with 3 or 4 ovules per locule; style included in stamen cluster for ± half its length, upturned in distal quarter, slender, up to 21-32 mm long, extending well beyond stamens, white to pale pink; stigma shortly trifid, papillate. Capsule cordiform, ±7 mm diam., septa without ribbing, dehiscing for up to three quarters below apex, walls ± papery, ± translucent, without conspicuous cross-veining. Seeds subglobose, ±3 mm diam., fleshy.