Botanical name

Ferraria crispa

Family

Iridaceae

Common Name

Spinnekopblom, Aasuintjie, Inkpotjie

Synonym (old name)

Ferraria crispa subsp. crispa
Ferraria crispa
Ferraria crispa
Ferraria crispa
Ferraria crispa
Ferraria crispa
Ferraria crispa

Description

Cormous geophyte up to 40cm. The Ferraria genus is characterized by its tough, long-lived corms lacking visible tunics and accumulating from year to year in a chain. Leaves 8-12mm wide, slightly fleshy, overlapping, partly concealing the branched, straight or slightly twisted stem. Flowers dull-coloured and speckled, about 35mm across, with crinkled tepal margins. Flowers are 'very fugitive and last scarcely through half a day of sunshine'. Flowers are carrion scented when fully open, the whole drying to an inky black, hence the common names Aasuintjie (Afr: aas = bait) and Inkpotjie (Afr: = little inkpot). The common name Spinnekopblom refers to the flowers coloured markings said to resemble a common veld spider (Afr: spinnekop = spider).

Latin: crispus = curled, crinkled: referring to the crinkled tepal margins.

Ferraria bulbs were introduced into Dutch gardens about a dozen years before van Riebeeck's arrival at the Cape in 1652.

After: Giovanni Battista Ferrari (1584-1655), Italian botanist, entered the Jesuit order in Rome in 1602 and was a horticultural advisor to the papal family. He was the first scientist to provide a complete description of the limes, lemons and pomegranates and their use in preventing scurvy.

Habitat

Mainly coastal, sandstone and loamy places

Flower Date

July to October