''Agapanthus africanus'', or the African lily, is a flowering plant from the genus ''Agapanthus'' found only on rocky sandstone slopes of the winter rainfall

fynbos Fynbos (; , ) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. The area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate. The fynbos ...

from the

Cape Peninsula The Cape Peninsula () of South Africa is a generally mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the African continent. At the southern end of the peninsula are Cape Point and the Cape of Good ...

Swellendam Swellendam () is the third oldest town in South Africa (after Cape Town and Stellenbosch), a town with 17,537 inhabitants situated in the Western Cape province. The town has over 50 provincial heritage sites, most of them buildings of Cape D ...

. It is also known as the lily-of-the-Nile in spite of only occurring in South Africa.

Description

The plant is a rhizomatous evergreen geophyte from in height. The leathery leaves are suberect and long and strap shaped. Flowers are broadly funnel-shaped, pale to deep blue, and thick-textured with a dark blue stripe running down the center of each petal. Paler flowers are more common in ''Agapanthus africanus walshii'' while ''Agapanthus africanus africanus'' flowers tend to be darker. The flowers grow in large clusters, with each flower being long. This species flowers from November to April, particularly after fire. Peak flowering occurs from December to February.

Ecology

Pollination is by wind,

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

s and

sunbird Sunbirds and spiderhunters make up the family Nectariniidae of passerine birds. They are small, slender passerines from the Old World, usually with downward-curved bills. Many are brightly coloured, often with iridescent feathers, particularly i ...

s and seed dispersal by the wind.

Chacma baboon The chacma baboon (''Papio ursinus''), also known as the Cape baboon, is, like all other baboons, from the Old World monkey family. It is one of the largest of all monkeys. Located primarily in southern Africa, the chacma baboon has a wide vari ...

s and buck sometimes eat the flower heads just as the first flowers begin to open. These plants are adapted to survive fire in the fynbos and resprout from thick, fleshy roots after fire has passed through the area.

Cultivation and use

Unlike the more common ''

Agapanthus praecox ''Agapanthus praecox'' (common agapanthus, blue lily, African lily, or lily of the Nile) is a popular garden plant around the world, especially in Mediterranean climates. It is native to the Kwa-Zulu Natal and Western Cape provinces of South Afr ...

'', this species is less suitable as a garden plant as it is far more difficult to grow. ''A. africanus'' subsp. ''africanus'' may be grown in rockeries in a well drained, slightly acid sandy mix. They seem to be best when grown in shallow pots and will flower regularly if fed with a slow release fertiliser. ''A. africanus'' subsp. ''walshii'' is by far the most difficult ''Agapanthus'' to grow. It can only be grown as a container plant and will not survive if planted out. They require a very well-drained, sandy, acid mix with minimal watering in summer. Both subspecies require hot, dry summers, and winter rainfall climate. It will not tolerate extended freezing temperatures. The name ''A. africanus'' has long been misapplied to ''A. praecox'' in horticultural use and publications across the world, and horticultural plants sold as ''A. africanus'' are actually hybrids or cultivars of ''A. praecox''. Extracts of ''A. africanus'' have been shown to have antifungal properties. Application of these extracts to the seeds of other plant species, including economically important species, has shown that it significantly reduces the severity of the impacts of certain pathogens. In the case of sorghum, this application was even found to perform better than

Thiram Thiram is the simplest thiuram disulfide and the oxidized dimer of dimethyldithiocarbamate. It is used as a fungicide, ectoparasiticide to prevent fungal diseases in seed and crops and similarly as an animal repellent to protect fruit trees and ...

, a commonly used

fungicide Fungicides are pesticides used to kill parasitic fungi or their spores. Fungi can cause serious damage in agriculture, resulting in losses of yield and quality. Fungicides are used both in agriculture and to fight fungal infections in animals, ...

when exposed to ''

Sporisorium sorghi ''Sporisorium sorghi'', commonly known as sorghum smut, is a plant pathogen that belongs to the Ustilaginaceae family. This fungus is the causative agent of covered kernel smut disease and infects sorghum plants all around the world such as ''Sor ...

'' and '' S. cruentum''. Similarly, it has found to induce resistance to rust leaf in wheat through increasing the activity of pathogenesis related proteins.

Conservation

While the species as a whole has not yet been assessed, ''A. africanus'' subsp. ''walshii'' is considered to be endangered by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). It is known only from a small area in the Elgin valley (less than five locations) and the population continues to decline. The largest subpopulation is threatened by unregulated informal settlement expansion. A proportion of the population is protected within the

Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve Kogelberg Nature Reserve is a nature reserve of comprising the Kogelberg Mountain Range, to the east of Cape Town, South Africa. With about 1600 plant species, it contains a floral diversity per unit area that is greater than anywhere else in t ...

and is not threatened.

References

External links