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Wachendorfia

© Bill Richardson

Wachendorfia has four species in the genus, all of which grow from the Eastern Cape through to the Western area. The genus is named after and commemorates E. J. Wachendorf who was an 18 th. century professor of botany and chemistry at Utrecht.
It is another lovely South African species that is so easy to grow.

It has some common names which are:

Blood root
Red root

because of the dye that comes from the corms which was used in the past to dye cloth in South Africa.

You may often see some red in the flowers, although they are a lovely yellow colour. The leaves are pleated which gives a stricking effect

Only one of the species is evergeen, the rest are all deciduous. The foliage in W. thyrsfolia has an erect and spreading habit and can cover a large area in time. Propogation is by division of the plants in spring or by seed which is sown in autumn.

I have grown this one, W. thyrsifolia, in a garden bed where I work in Gippsland Victoria right along the front of the road. When it is flowering, it catches the eye of all passers-by with its beautiful yellow flowers. It is said to be a shade lover in a damp situation, but these grow out in the open in a dry spot with no ill-effect. Frost will damage the leaves a little though it won't affect the flowering which is in spring /summer and doesn't stop new growth from coming on.

These are the species in the genus:

W. thyrsifolia.
Common name is rooikanol, and it grows from Cape Peninsular to the Eastern Cape area.It is the only evergreen species, which is said to favour swampy conditions and shade. It is a great background plant with its lovely pleated leaves for a herbaceous border. It is very tall growing and the flowers eventually turn to unusual and interesting seed pods. The rootstock is a reddish corm which regenerates yearly and grows horizontally so that the emerging shoots have to curve upwards.

W. paniculata.
Common name is rooikanol or spinnekopblom and grows in the Western, South-Western, Southern and Eastern Cape areas. This is a deciduous species and needs a long summer dormancy period. It seeds freely and can tend to be a little invasive if let go. Sow in autumn.
W. brachyandra
grows 20-70 cm. and has apricot-yellow flowers with dark markings It is deciduous and the seed is sown in autumn.

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