The leaves and stems are shed in anticipation of the dry and hot summer, when the plants survive with their corms.

From the corm's top emerges a stem that is circular in cross section, either or not branching, mostly hairy or rough but sometimes smooth, and that may be entirely subterranean or appear above the ground.

In B. cuneata, B. flabellifolia, B. lanata and B. praemorsa the leaf tip consists of several irregular teeth and appears to have been bitten off by grazing animals.

The inner bracts may be forked at the tips sometimes as deep as midlength, or may be divided almost or entirely to the base, the two halves sometimes connected by a transparent dry membrane.

In the species assigned to the section Antholyzoides, initially the dorsal tepal is hood-shaped but it becomes erect or recurved in the older flower.

The last common ancestor of all Babiana species most likely had blue or violet flowers, still the most common colours in the extant species, with the lower laterals bearing spear- or lozenge-shaped, white or cream-coloured markings strongly contrasting with a dark blue, purple or red outline.

A few species, in particular B. noctiflora, B. odorata, B. pygmaea, B. spathacea, B. tubulosa, B. unguiculata and B. virginea flowers are white, cream-coloured or pale yellow.

B. regia and B. rubrocyanea have an actinomorphic dark blue perianth around a red heart divided by a thin white line.

In B. ringens, B. hirsuta and B. avicularis on the other hand, the anthers are well-exerted, reaching beyond the tip of the dorsal tepal that is loosely embracing the filaments.

Typically for pollen within the Crocoidae subfamily, the ellipsoid grains have a perforated exine layer, and one elliptical opening (or aperture) that is sealed by a lid (or operculum) adorned with two bands.

This is also true for most species in the section Teretifoliae, with the exception of B. cedarbergensis, B. geniculata, B. pygmaea and some specimens of B. vanzijliae that have ovaries that are hairy in the upper half or on the ribs.

In species assigned to the section Antholyzoides, the undivided part reaches the tip of the anthers or is even longer, and this is also true for B. ambigua, B. avicularis, B. hirsuta, B. purpurea and B. ringens.

When flowers first open, the widened parts of the style are folded along the midline (or conduplicate) only to fully expand when the pollen has been shed, so avoiding selfing through protandry.

Short styles that divide at or below the anther base occur in some species including B. fragans, B. tubaeformis, the B. nervosa-B.

Carl Peter Thunberg, sometimes called the father of South African botany, described in 1800 Gladiolus secundus (now B. secunda).

In 1801, the English botanist, botanical artist and engraver Henry Cranke Andrews described Gladiolus nanus (now B.

[1] John Bellenden Ker Gawler in 1802 proposed to use the genus name Babiana for the species of bobbejaantjie.

In 1882, Klatt describes B. ecklonii, B. lineolata and also validly published the name B. scabrifolia based on work by Joachim Brehm.

[9] South African botanist Gwendoline Joyce Lewis published in 1959 an extensive revision of the genus Babiana.

Therein she distinguished 61 species including the newly described B. attenuata, B. auriculata, B. cedarbergensis, B. confusa, B. crispa, B. curviscapa, B. foliosa, B. fourcadei, B. geniculata, B. horizontalis, B. leipoldtii, B. lobata, B. longibracteata (now B. sambucina subsp.

In 2007 the genus was again revised, now by Goldblatt and Manning, and they newly described B. arenicola, B. carminea, B. cinnamomea, B. engysiphon, B. gariepensis, B. grandiflora, B. inclinata, B. karooica, B. lanata, B. lapeirousioides, B. melanops, B. noctiflora, B. papyracea, B. petiolata, B. radiata, B. rubella, B. tanquana, and B.

The section Babiana consists of species in which the inner of the two bracts subtending each flower is split to the base or sometimes the halves are connected by a thin and transparent membrane.

[1] Comparison of homologous DNA has increased the insight in the phylogenetic relationships between genera in the subfamily Crocoidae (the genus Zygotritonia was not included in the analysis, but is presumed closely related to Lapeirousia), and between 86 of the species of Babiana (B. brachystachys, B. foliosa, B. gariepensis, B. lapeirousioides, B. longicollis, B. rivulicola and B. stenomera were not included in the analysis).

[11][12] Tritoniopsis Lapeirousia Savannosiphon Cyanixia Micranthus Thereianthus Pillansia Watsonia Gladiolus Melasphaerula Xenoscapa Devia Crocosmia Freesia Anomatheca Radinosiphon Romulea Crocus Afrocrocus Syringodea Dierama Ixia Tritonia Sparaxis Duthiastrum Chasmanthe Babiana B. lobata B. bainesii B. hypogaea B. horizontalis B. longicollis B. symmetrantha B. dregei B. pubescens B. curviscapa B. spiralis B. attenuata B. virescens B. confusa B. fimbriata B. lewisiana B. striata B. pilosa B. rubella B. carminea B. cinnamomea B. lanata B. planifolia B. namaquensis B. torta B. tubulosa B. tubiflora B. tritonioides B. ringens B. avicularis B. hirsuta B. teretifolia grade B B. spathacea B. virginea B. praemorsa B. cuneata B. grandiflora B. ambigua B. radiata B. karooica B. purpurea B. tanquana B. minuta B. patula B. patersoniae B. fourcadei B. montana B. nana B. sambucina B. flabellifolia B. rigidifolia B. framesii B. blanda B. engysiphon B. toximontana B. salteri B. scabrifolia B. secunda B. pauciflora B. mucronata mucronata B. leipoldtii B. latifolia B. lineolata clade C B. auriculata B. unguiculata B. crispa B. ecklonii B. mucronata minor B. scariosa B. vanzijliae B. papyracea B. geniculata B. sinuata B. cedarbergensis B. petiolata B. odorata B. regia B. villosula B. villosa B. melanops (Tulbagh) B. fragans B. arenicola B. pygmaea B. nervosa B. tubaeformis B. noctiflora B. melanops (Mamre) B. inclinata B. angustifolia B. rubrocyanea The vast majority of the 93 currently recognised species of bobbejaantjie occur in the west and southwest of the South African Cape provinces and in the southwest of Namibia, areas with predominant rainfall during the winter.

Babiana hypogaea can be found in southeastern Namibia, and in northwestern and central South Africa in particular Bushmanland and the Great Karoo.

B. bainesii has a large distribution and can be found in Botswana, Namibia, central and eastern South Africa, Zimbabwe and southernmost Zambia.

[1] The various species of bobbejaantjie have specialised flowers adapted to be pollinated by the Cape sugarbird and sunbirds, and by insects of four different orders, more in particular bees, tangle-veined flies, monkey beetles, and owlet moths.

Pollination by female bees specifically foraging for pollen is shown in one species, but probably also occurs in four others that share prominent anthers and radially symmetric flowers.

It appears that shifts to other pollinators occur rather frequently both in Babiana and in other Crocoidae, and adaptations to accommodate the different pollinator groups have led to remarkably similar flowers in different genera in the Iridaceae family such as Lapeirousia, Hesperantha, Gladiolus and Babiana, as well as in Pelargonium and Orchidaceae that occur in the same area and habitat.

Babiana nervosa (under its synonym B. stricta) is sometimes cultivated in gardens and grows best in more or less Mediterranean climates and well-draining soils.