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Iridaceae
Baboon Flower
Babiana stricta
Wild Cape spirit.
- Family
- Iridaceae
- Genus
- Babiana
- Native to
- South Africa, Western Cape, Namibia
- Bloom season
- Spring
- Type
- corm perennial
- Height
- 0.5-1.5 ft
- Sunlight
- full sun
- Soil
- well-drained, sandy, acidic
- Water
- low
- Hardiness
- 9-11
- Lifespan
- perennial
Did you know
- The common name 'baboon flower' comes from Afrikaans 'bobbejaantjie' (little baboon) — baboons and mole rats eagerly dig up and eat the corms, which are rich in starch, and are major corm dispersers.
- The corms were also eaten by the Khoikhoi and San peoples of South Africa's Cape region, either raw or roasted; they have a pleasantly nutty flavor and were an important food source during dry summer months.
- Babiana species are pollinated by long-tongued bees and sunbirds, and different flower forms are adapted to each pollinator — tubular forms target long-tongued bees while open forms attract sunbirds.
- The pleated, hairy leaves covered in soft woolly trichomes are a distinctive field character of the genus, reflecting adaptation to the Cape's dry, sandy fynbos soil where leaf temperature regulation is critical.
- Over 80 Babiana species are known, nearly all restricted to the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa, one of only 6 global biodiversity hotspots and the world's richest floral kingdom per unit area.
Color meanings
0
wildness
1
freedom
2
exuberance