ZALUZIANSKYA NATALENSIS

This gorgeous grassland plant opens at dusk, so you need to be up early to see it.  Night-flying Hawk moths are the primary pollinators.  They have very long tongues (up to 14 inches) which they use to sip nectar from flowers, and in turn, pick up and disperse pollen grains. While the flowers of Zaluzianskya natalensis have a strong scent that draws pollinators, researchers have found when flowers point upwards, as they do in Z. natalensis, they are even more attractive to pollinators.

There are 55 species of Zaluzianskyafound in southern Africa, with Z.natalensis occurring in KZN and Swaziland. The perennial plant grows to about 35 cm tall with the flowers held in an inflorescence on a thick hairy stem. The flowers are white inside, the mouth of the flower tube is ringed in hairs, and are deep read underneath. When closed, the white is hardly visible. Appropriately for such an exotic looking flower, it named in honour of Adam Zaluziansky von Zuluzian, a physician and botanist from Prague, who lived from 1558 to 1613.

Click on any of the links below to see another Dargle wildflower