Description
A spectacular marginal water plant from south eastern Transvaal where it is limited to a small area in swamps. In the wild it is apparently frosted severely in the winter although it is a deciduous, summer-growing species, so it is dormant when it is frozen.
It is readily grown in a damp soil and flowers in mid summer if nice and wet then. The flowers are striking and amongst the largest of the genus, in shades of deep pink (rarely to pale pink or white). The base is infused with deeper red, with a stripe of the same colour continuing along the length of the petal.
A superb new and little known plant every bit as marvellous as bowdenii. Hardiness is as yet untested, but it may, in time, be worth risking outside!
Photograph courtesy of Gunma Botanical Garden, Japan.