Brunsvigia

Brunsuigia Heist., alternate spelling Brunsvigia is a genus of African flowering plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae.

Bulbs are tender, usually large (up to 20 cm diameter), winter-growing and summer-dormant, generally flowering in early autumn.

Tunics are often thick and cartilaginous, typically brittle and tan-coloured, although they are brown and papery in B. josephinae and B. litoralis.

Although usually smooth, the upper leaf surfaces of two Namaqualand species (B. radula and B. namaquana) are covered with straw-coloured bristles and in some populations of B. striata from the southern Cape, they bear soft, scale-like hairs.

In most species the pedicels are long, stiff, straight and radiate outwards to form an almost perfectly spherical head; they elongate and spread after blooming.

Stamens clustered, arising from the perianth tube, ± declinate or erect, shortly connate at base.

The water-rich, non-dormant, ovoid, reddish green seeds are borne in large, dry capsules that are spindle-shaped or three-angled, obtuse or acute, transversally veined, and often heavily ribbed.

Dehiscence in most species of Brunsvigia is somewhat tardy and confined to the apex of the capsule, hampered below by heavy ribs that keep the septa closed for most of their length.

The name was first used in 1753 by Lorenz Heister, a German surgeon and botanist, to describe a single bulb received in 1748 by Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff from Ryk Tulbagh at the Cape.

Smooth foliage of Brunsvigia orientalis
Bristly foliage of Brunsvigia namaquana
Infructescences of Brunsvigia bosmaniae
Seeds of Brunsvigia bosmaniae