''Dianthus basuticus'', called the Drakensberg carnation, Lesotho carnation, Lesotho pink, hlokoalatsela in the

Sesotho language Sotho (), also known as ''Sesotho'' (), Southern Sotho, or ''Sesotho sa Borwa'' is a Southern Bantu language spoken in Lesotho as its national language and South Africa where it is an official language. Like all Bantu languages, Sesotho is ...

and Lesotho wilde angelier in

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

, is a species of ''

Dianthus ''Dianthus'' ( ) is a genus of about 340 species of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, native mainly to Europe and Asia, with a few species in north Africa and in southern Africa, and one species (''D. repens'') in arctic North Am ...

'' native to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

Distribution

It is a near-endemic of the Drakensberg Alpine Centre, and occurs predominantly on rocky, grassy slopes, from Avontuur and the Kammanassie mountains in the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

, through the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

and into

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

Province. The northernmost records are from near

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

and Pilgrim's Rest in

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares bor ...

Province. Other records are from

Kokstad Kokstad is a town in the Harry Gwala District Municipality of the KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Kokstad is named after the Griqua chief Adam Kok III who settled here in 1863. Kokstad is the capital town of the East Griqualand region, ...

and

Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal Newcastle is the third-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and is the province's industrial centre. The city has four industrial areas. The majority of its citizens reside in Newcastle East in the main townships of Madade ...

, as well as

Harrismith Harrismith is a large town in the Free State (South African province), Free State province of South Africa. It was named for Sir Harry Smith, 1st Baronet, Sir Harry Smith, a 19th-century British governor and high commissioner of the Cape Colony. ...

and

Clocolan Clocolan, officially renamed Hlohlolwane, was established in 1906, is a small town in the Free State Province of South Africa. The Basotho called the place Hlohlolwane (Hlohla-o-lwane, "get up and fight"). New inhabitants mispronounced the name ...

in the Free State Province. The subspecies ''fourcadei'' occupies the westernmost extent of the species distribution range, occurring in the mountainous Uniondale, Langkloof and Kouga regions, around the boundary between the Western and Eastern Cape provinces.

Description

''Dianthus basuticus'' is a densely tufted

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

reaching 15–20 cm, with linear (50mm x 5mm) blue-grey leaves, densely clumped near to the ground. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is usually branched, and rises ''c.'' 15 cm above the main leaf tufts. The flowers are usually dark pink, ''c.'' 20 mm wide, and appear in Summer-Autumn (Nov-Apr.). The petals are broad and obovate (those of most other South African species are narrower and oblanceolate) with only minutely toothed or serrated tips. The petals are sometimes slightly recurved. The calyx is 15–20 mm in length, with 2-3 bract-pairs. The bracts are 15-20mm long.Burtt Davy, J. (1922) XXXIII. A Revision of the South African Species of ''Dianthus''. ''Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information 7''. pp. 209-223. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. File:Dianthus basuticus - Eastern Cape 2 - Copy.jpg, The ''Dianthus basuticus'' petals are only mildly or minutely serrated. File:Dianthus basuticus Burtt Davy (AM AK349356-1).jpg, ''Dianthus basuticus'' herbarium specimen

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15566485 basuticus Flora of Lesotho Flora of South Africa Plants described in 1922 Taxa named by Joseph Burtt Davy