''Bulbine bruynsii'' is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

in the genus ''

Bulbine ''Bulbine'' is a genus of plants in the family Asphodelaceae and subfamily Asphodeloideae, named for the bulb-shaped tuber of many species. It was formerly placed in the Liliaceae. It is found chiefly in Southern Africa, with a few species extend ...

''. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Distribution and habitat

It occurs in the vicinity of the

Knersvlakte The Knersvlakte is a region of hilly terrain covered with quartz gravel in Namaqualand in the north-west corner of the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The name, literally "gnashing plain" in Afrikaans,Namaqualand Namaqualand (khoekhoe: "Nama-kwa" meaning Nama Khoe people's land) is an arid region of Namibia and South Africa, extending along the west coast over and covering a total area of . It is divided by the lower course of the Orange River into ...

region, in the area between the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

and

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

Provinces,

. Roughly twelve populations are known. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

is open saline patches of quartz and clay flats, in "Hardeveld" vegetation.

Description

Each head normally only forms two leaves, which are wrinkled and rugose. It is deciduous and is only visible above ground in the rainy season from June until September. For the rest of the year it is dormant and below the ground.

References

* Loots, S. & Craven, P. 2004
''Bulbine bruynsii''2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
* Helme, N.A. & von Staden, L. 2012. ''Bulbine bruynsii S.A.Hammer. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version 2013.1.'' Accessed on 2014/05/19Helme, N. 2013. Endemic flora of the Cape Provinces bruynsii Plants described in 1998 {{Asphodelaceae-stub