Cyrtanthus wellandii Snijman

Deciduous bulbous herb, 200-400 mm tall when flowering. Bulb solitary, hypogeal, narrowly ovate, 40-50 mm long, up to 30 mm diam., sometimes extended into a narrow neck up to 10 mm long; outer tunics brown and papery; inner tunics cream-coloured and fleshy. Leaves 2 or 3, appearing at or shortly after flowering, linear, up to 190 x 3 mm, suberect to recurved distally, red proximally otherwise light green, deeply channelled adaxially, keeled abaxially; keel mostly three-nerved becoming one-nerved distally, sometimes minutely papillate. Inflorescence 4-7-flowered; scape erect, up to 350 mm long, ±3-5 mm diam., tapering distally, pale pink to pale green or brownish pink, covered with a grey bloom, hollow from base upwards; spathe valves 2, equitant, narrowly lanceolate, up to 35 x 7 mm, initially pale green, soon becoming brown and reflexed; bracteoles up to 7, narrow, up to 15 mm long; pedicels erect, varying in length, 6-24 mm long at anthesis, 2 mm diam., brownish green. Flowers spreading horizontally, 36-42 mm long, funnel-shaped, regular, vermilion to scarlet, ageing to dull red, with 6 faint white streaks leading downwards from tepal sinuses, unscented; tube 23-25 mm long, lower 3-5 mm narrow, up to 2 mm diam., more or less bent at right angles, upper 15-20 mm flaring open to 8-10 mm wide at throat; tepals oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 11-16 x 6-8 mm, outspread at anthesis forming a flat or sometimes slightly recurved rim, 5-veined, soft-textured, without a thickened median rib; outer whorl shortly mucronate, slightly wider than inner. Stamens biseriate, regular; filaments ±1.5 mm long, incurved, white, inserted ± half way up tube, with the inner inserted ±2.5 mm above outer; anthers dorsifixed, oblong, 1.75 mm long, yellow. Ovary ellipsoidal, 5-6 x 3-5 mm, green; ovules axile ±9 per locule. Style straight, up to 9 mm long, remaining in tube, ±4-5 mm below lowermost stamen insertion, white; stigma 3-lobed, papillate; lobes broad, less than 0.25 mm long. Capsule narrowly elliptical, 20 x 7 mm, 3-valved; valves reflexing when dry. Seeds black, flattened, wrinkled, 7 x 4 mm. Flowers in mid February, often after the foliage leaves, which appear in summer and begin to dry off in autumn. Although its habitat is periodically burned, the flowering of C. wellandii is not fire-induced.