About Drimia elata Jacq. ex Willd.
Drimia elata Jacq. ex Willd. is a perennial bulb plant. Its bulb is covered in reddish scales, and the species reaches a maximum height of 100 cm. Its leaves are roughly 25 cm long and 1–2 cm wide, shaped linear to narrowly lanceolate. Leaves are sometimes wavy, and have minute hairs, particularly along their margins. In the southern hemisphere, its inflorescence develops between December and April, after the plant’s leaves have already dried out. The inflorescence grows on a scape that can be up to 1.2 m (4 ft) tall, and forms a thin, dense terminal raceme. Individual flowers range in color from grey-white to purple-brown. Flowers have recurved tepal lobes and dark blueish purple anthers. All flowers are borne on pedicels, and each is subtended by a bract that has a small, distinctive spur near its base. The fruit is a trilocular oblong capsule that holds small ovate seeds. This species occurs in eastern and southern Africa, specifically in Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Eswatini, and South Africa. In Zimbabwe, it has been recorded growing in rocky grassland. In South Africa, it grows from Namaqualand to Cape Town and across the southern Cape, where it is found on sandy to clay-rich soils in Renosterveld and Succulent Karoo vegetation.
