About Brunsvigia bosmaniae F.M.Leight.
Brunsvigia bosmaniae F.M.Leight. is a South African geophyte tumbleweed plant in the Amaryllidaceae family, native to the dry west coast of Cape Province. This species is recognized for its abundant pink flowers, which typically bloom in March, a few weeks after late summer rains. It grows in the winter rainfall region of southern Africa, where it can be found on open flats, coastal sand, rocky outcrops, and in loam, granite, and clay soils. Its recorded distribution includes Namaqualand, Western Karoo, the Bokkeveld Plateau, and the area surrounding the Roggeveld Mountains. After flowering, the species develops 5 to 8 deciduous leaves that are dark green with a reddish edge, smooth, broad, tongue-shaped, and lie flat against the ground when mature. It grows from a globose bulb with a typically brittle, coppery-brown tunic. Like other Brunsvigia species, plants will not flower if they are repeatedly disturbed by replanting. The flowers are strongly fragrant at night, and are pollinated at this time by sphingid and noctuid moths. As with other members of the Amaryllidaceae family, this species forms large spherical fruiting heads that detach from the plant when mature. These heads are blown along by the wind to efficiently disperse seeds, which gives the species its tumbleweed characteristic. Infusions made from the bulbs of this species have been used for both medicinal and hallucinogenic purposes. Brunsvigia species are rich in alkaloids, especially brunsvigine (also called 5,11b-methanomorphanthridine), so members of the genus may be extremely toxic. B. bosmaniae was first formally described in 1932 by South African botanist Frances Margaret Leighton (1909–2006) in the journal South African Gardening. Its specific epithet honors Marie Bosman, who collected the plant specimen for Leighton.
