Pauridia pusilla (Snijman) Snijman & Kocyan

Plants 7-19(-30) cm tall. Corm somewhat globose, 4-7 mm diam., loosely covered by dark brown, softly fibrous tunics; fibres reticulate and free from corm base; roots arising from corm base, slender and spreading, or thick and contractile. Cataphylls membranous, up to 10 mm long. Leaves 2-6, sheathing up to 10 mm above base, suberect to slightly arched, narrowly lanceolate, 45-160(-300) x 1.0-2.5 mm, carinate, pale green, soft and thin-textured, margin entire. Inflorescences 2 or more in flower at a time, 2(3)-flowered, shorter or as long as leaves; scape 20-100 x 0.5-1.5 mm, compressed laterally, sharp-edged, pale green; bracts 2(3), clasping pedicels for at least half their length, lorate, 15-25 x 1-3 mm, foliaceous, shallowly keeled, inconspicuously nerved, pale green, translucent-edged. Flowers pedicellate, stellate, yellow or white, backed with pale green mostly in outer whorl; pedicels suberect in flower and fruit, 20-50(-80) x 0.5 mm, terete, pale green; tepals 4 or 6, rarely 5, reflexed when fully open, narrowly lanceolate, 3-4 mm long, outer 1.5 mm wide and mucronate, inner 1.0-1.2 mm wide. Stamens as many as tepals, suberect proximally to slightly spreading distally, outer somewhat shorter than inner; filaments yellow with maroon tips, outer 1.4-2.5 mm long, adnate to style for up to ca. 0.5 mm, inner 2.2-3.0 mm long, adnate to style for up to ca. 1 mm, all longer than anthers; anthers oblong, latrorse, 1.0-1.4 mm long, apical and basal lobes ca. 0.17 mm long and slightly spreading, thecae yellow, connective dark red; pollen yellow. Ovary narrowly ellipsoid, 2.3-3.0 x 0.8-1.2 mm, 2-or 3-locular, beaked distally for 0.5-1.0 mm, beak lengthening up to 1.5 mm when fruiting; style 1.5 mm long, yellow; stigma branches 2 or 3, erect, 0.9-1.5 mm long, shorter than longest stamens, densely papillose, dark red. Capsules narrowly ellipsoid, 2.5-5.0 x 1.0-1.5 mm, thin-walled, partially topped with withered, persistent ovary beak and perigone, dehiscence irregular from apex downwards; placental ridges remaining contiguous axially; septa disintegrating. Seeds ovoid, ca. 0.5 x 0.4 mm; testa shiny black, of transversally widened cells, forming ca. 12 wide, longitudinal ribs; outer periclinal cell walls with a blunt, raised, central papilla. Flowering period: early September-mid-October. The flowers remain open throughout the day, unlike those of the sun-loving species of Pauridia which open mid-morning and close mid-afternoon.