Cyanella hyacinthoides
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{Speciesbox
|name = Lady's hand
|image = Curtis's botanical magazine (No. 568) (8413283883).jpg
|genus = Cyanella
|species = hyacinthoides
|authority = Royen ex L.
|synonyms = Cyanella pentheri Zahlbr.
|synonyms_ref = [http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-303743 The Plant List, Cyanella hyacinthoides]
}}
Cyanella hyacinthoides ("lady's hand" or "Raaptoluintjie") is a species of cormous annual or perennial herb native to the western parts of South Africa.
Description
File:Cyanella hyacinthoides - Ladies hand (30744373736).jpg
It has a basal rosette, with slender, lanceolate, crisped (wavy-margins) leaves.
The mauve, pink, purple or blue (rarely white) flowers are mildly scented, and appear on a spreading inflorescence in Spring (August to November in the southern hemisphere).
The plant can be up to 40 centimetres high.{{FloraBase | name = Cyanella hyacinthoides L. | id =1487}}Linnaeus, Carl von. 1754. Genera Plantarum, ed. 5 522, et addenda, Cyanella hyacinthoides
Distribution and habitat
It is native to the Cape region of South Africa, especially the renosterveld, where it usually grows in loamy soil in clay and granite slopes. Its range extends as far north as the Namaqualand, and southwards into the Overberg region of the southern Cape, as far as the town of Riversdale.
It is also reportedly naturalised in Western Australia.[http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=303743 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Cyanella hyacinthoides]
The bulb is edible once cooked, and is said to serve as an onion substitute.{{Cite web|url=http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Cyanella+hyacinthoides|title = Cyanella hyacinthoides Lady's Hand PFAF Plant Database}}
It tolerates drought but is vulnerable to frost.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{AfricanPlants|Cyanella hyacinthoides}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q5197425}}
Category:Endemic flora of the Cape Provinces
Category:Plants described in 1754
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