Boophone haemanthoides Plants

Boophone haemanthoides is a distinctive species whose unique look and growth habit are appreciated by lovers of unusual plants. A member of the Amaryllis family, Boophone haemanthoides is a primitive-looking plant with most of its layered bulb growing above ground, like an onion-like caudex. Its wavy, blue grey straplike leaves are arranged in a spreading fan, emerging from the top of its bulb. Boophone haemanthoides forms a massive bulb 8" across or more, with much of it growing above ground like a caudex.

Once Boophone haemanthoides reaches flowering size, in mid-summer a brush-like flower head emerges (similar to Haemanthus, hence the species name haemanthoides) cream-colored, then becoming pink with age. Leaves develop after flowering and remain until the following summer, when the plant goes dormant until flowering again.

Boophone haemanthoides grows in winter rain rainfall areas of Namaqualand and the Western Karoo, in the Western Cape Province of South Africa and Namibia.