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A species that is close to W.borbonica and which occurs in pink or white forms. Unfortunately that means this orange flowered plant from Beeches is not right. Peter Goldblatt says: "named after W. Versfeld of Piketberg who sent plants to Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens in 1914 where they were grown and later described. Watsonia versfeldii is a rare species with a distribution restricted to the northern part of the Piketberg and the Twenty-Four Rivers mountains above Peterville and Saron. It flowers well only after clearing or fire and grows on open stony slopes or plateaus. The flowers produce ample nectar and this fact together with the long upper perianth tube suggests that they may be pollinated by sunbirds. Watsonia versfeldii was first collected in the late 1820s when it was discovbered by the early Cape collectors, Christian Frederick Ecklon and Carl Ludwig Zeyher. The original locality appears to have been lost. W. versfeldii was described ... by Mathews and L. Bolus from plants grown at Kirstenbosch and known to have been collected in the Piketberg. Until the last few years there were no records of W. versfeldii from the wild and the species was something of a mystery." |
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| 5th July 2006 | ||