''Melianthus comosus'', the honey flower, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Francoaceae The Francoaceae are a small family of flowering plants in the order Geraniales, including the genera '' Francoa'', commonly known as bridal wreaths, and '' Tetilla''. The Francoaceae are recognized as a family under various classification schemes ...

. It is native to the mostly dry regions of southern Africa. The attractive multi-stemmed shrubs are popular garden subjects. The

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

name kruidjie-roer-my-nie (''herb-touch-me-not'') alludes to the unpleasant smell that results from bruising of any part of the plant. The vegetative parts are very toxic, as with other ''

Melianthus ''Melianthus'' is a genus of flowering plants native to elevated grassland in South Africa. A common name for these plants is honey flower, which is also the English translation of the Latin name. This name also attaches to the species ''M. como ...

'' species, and extracts of the leaves and stem have anti-bacterial properties.

Range

It is native to

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 ...

, western

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

and southern

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, where it occurs from 400 to 2,000 m above sea level. In South Africa it occurs in the greater part of the Cape and Free State provinces, and locally in North West, Gauteng and Mpumalanga.

Flowers

The flowers which produce copious black nectarAlso described as dark brown but J. Henning records that black nectar is found in ''M. comosus'', ''M. elongatus'' and ''M. villosus'', and brown nectar in the remaining species. See Hansen et al. are

zygomorphic Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts. Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spirall ...

in shape, and green to pale pink in colour. The black nectar is visible through the pale green, semi-transparent sepals. A flower produces an average of 42 μl of nectar a day, with a 10% sugar content, which has been described as a "rich black honey" that almost fills the cup.Scott-Elliot (1890)

Vahl Vahl is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Christian-Friedrich Vahl (born 1955), German cardiac surgeon *Emanuel Vahl (born 1938), Ukrainian-Israeli composer * Herbert-Ernst Vahl, German SS general *Jens Vahl (1796–1854), Danish ...

's description of the species in 1794 however omitted any mention of the coloured nectar, or its abundance.

Uses and species associations

Honey from its flowers is dark in colour, and apparently not toxic to humans.Marloth (1925) The flowers are visited by insects and birds, especially sunbirds which eagerly seek them out.Mabberley (1997)

Notes

References

Flora of South Africa Francoaceae Plants described in 1794 Taxa named by Martin Vahl {{Geraniales-stub