Description :

• Deciduous or sometimes evergreen perennials
• Rootstock a globose or depressed-globose corm rooting from below, axillary in origin, those of past seasons often not resorbed, tunics coriaceous, with age becoming fibrous
• Stem aerial, usually branched, round in section
• Leaves several, lower 2 or 3 cataphylls; foliage leaves unifacial, with a definite midrib, coriaceous and fibrotic, mostly basal, plane, margins and midribs often thickened and prominent, cauline leaves smaller than basal and progressively reduced above
• Inflorescence a simple or branched spike, flowers distichously arranged; bracts firm-textured, green or partly to completely dry at anthesis, inner smaller, as long or longer than outer, usually forked apically
• Flowers zygomorphic, actinomorphic in one species, shades of pink, orange or red, rarely cream to pale yellow, sometimes with contrasting markings on lower tepals, unscented, with nectar from septal nectaries; perianth tube slightly to strongly curved, lower part cylindric, upper part flared or broad and cylindric
• Tepals subequal
• Stamens symmetrically disposed or unilateral and then arcuate or declinate; filaments arising in throat; anthers exserted; pollen monosulcate, operculate, exine perforate
• Style filiform, exserted, branches forked for half their length and recurved
• Capsules globose to oblong or elongate, sometimes fusiform, coriaceous to woody
• Seeds large, angular or compressed and winged at chalazal end or at both ends, sometimes ribbed, matte, surface areolate
• x = 9

Classification Notes:

• The genus is well defined and monophyletic, and is distinguished by pink or red perianth colour, strongly distichous inflorescence, divided style branches, dimorphic perianth tube and basic chromosome number of x = 9
• It appears to be most closely allied to Thereianthus and Micranthus

Nomenclature:

• Watsonia Mill.
  • Miller: 184 (1758)
  • Goldblatt: 25 (1989)
• Meriana Trew
  • Trew: 11 (1754), name rejected contra Watsonia
• Lomenia Pourr.
  • Pourret: 74 (1788)
• Neuberia Eckl.
  • Ecklon: 37 (1827) name only

Distribution & Notes:

• Southern Africa : Species 52, concentrated in the Western Cape, but extending into Namaqualand (Northern Cape) in the north and well represented in the summer-rainfall parts, especially S KwaZulu-Natal and the Drakensberg escarpment in Swaziland and Mpumalanga

Additional Notes:

• Watsonia exhibits a wide range of floral forms, which are correlated with their pollination biology
• Species with a pink or yellow perianth and a short funnel-shaped tube produce small quantities of nectar and are pollinated by bees whereas those with a red perianth and long, dimorphic cylindrical tube produce ample nectar and are pollinated by sunbirds
• The latter type of flower is specialised and appears to have arisen at least 3 times in the genus
• A few species have pink flowers with a long perianth tube and are mostly pollinated by long-proboscid flies