''Melianthus comosus'', the honey flower, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Francoaceae The Francoaceae are a small family of flowering plants in the order Geraniales, including the genera '' Francoa'', commonly known as bridal wreaths. The Francoaceae are recognized as a family under various classification schemes. Under the 2009 A ...

. It is native to the mostly dry regions of southern Africa. The attractive multi-stemmed shrubs are popular garden subjects. The

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 ...

name kruidjie-roer-my-nie (''herb-touch-me-not'') alludes to the unpleasant smell that results from bruising of any part of the plant. The vegetative parts are very toxic, as with other ''

Melianthus ''Melianthus'' is a genus of flowering plants native plant, native to elevated grassland in South Africa. A common name for these plants is honey flower, which is also the English translation of the Latin name. This name also attaches to the spe ...

'' species, and extracts of the leaves and stem have anti-bacterial properties.

Range

It is 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 ...

, western

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 ...

and southern

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

, where it occurs from 400 to 2,000 m above sea level. In South Africa it occurs in the greater part of the Cape and Free State provinces, and locally in North West, Gauteng and Mpumalanga.

Flowers

The flowers which produce copious black nectarAlso described as dark brown but J. Henning records that black nectar is found in ''M. comosus'', ''M. elongatus'' and ''M. villosus'', and brown nectar in the remaining species. See Hansen et al. are

zygomorphic Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts. Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spir ...

in shape, and green to pale pink in colour. The black nectar is visible through the pale green, semi-transparent sepals. A flower produces an average of 42 μl of nectar a day, with a 10% sugar content, which has been described as a "rich black honey" that almost fills the cup.Scott-Elliot (1890)

Vahl Vahl is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Christian-Friedrich Vahl (born 1955), German cardiac surgeon * Emanuel Vahl (born 1938), Ukrainian-Israeli composer *Herbert-Ernst Vahl, German SS general *Jens Vahl (1796–1854), Danis ...

's description of the species in 1794 however omitted any mention of the coloured nectar, or its abundance.

Uses and species associations

Honey from its flowers is dark in colour, and apparently not toxic to humans.Marloth (1925) The flowers are visited by insects and birds, especially sunbirds which eagerly seek them out.Mabberley (1997)

Notes

References

Flora of Lesotho Flora of Namibia Flora of South Africa Francoaceae Plants described in 1794 Taxa named by Martin Vahl {{Geraniales-stub