''Dierama'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of flowering plants in the family

Iridaceae Iridaceae is a family of plants in order Asparagales, taking its name from the irises, meaning rainbow, referring to its many colours. There are 66 accepted genera with a total of c. 2244 species worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016). It include ...

. Common names include hairbells, angel's fishing rod, fairybells, and wandflowers in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and ''grasklokkies'' (= grass-bells) in

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 ...

.Glen, H
''Dierama reynoldsii''.
South African National Biodiversity Institute. 2005. They are native to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, with most occurring in the southern regions of the continent.''Dierama'' K.Koch.
''Flora Zambesiaca''. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The center of diversity is the province of KwaZulu-Natal in eastern South Africa. Dierama dracomontanum1UME

Description

Plants of this genus are

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

perennial herbs growing from large

corm A corm, bulbo-tuber, or bulbotuber is a short, vertical, swollen underground plant stem that serves as a storage organ that some plants use to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat (perennation). The word ' ...

s with fibrous

tunics A tunic is a garment for the body, usually simple in style, reaching from the shoulders to a length somewhere between the hips and the knees. The name derives from the Latin ''tunica'', the basic garment worn by both men and women in Ancient Rom ...

. The lowest two or three leaves are cataphylls that sheath the lower stem and become dry. The thin, wiry, branching stem may bend and droop when in flower. It is lined with leaves that have linear blades with thick longitudinal veins and often no midrib. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

is a panicle of several spikes of flowers. The spikes may hang like bells or grow erect. The bracts around the flowers are usually dry, thin, membranous, translucent, and streaked or veined with brown. The bell-shaped flowers of most wild species are pink; red, purple, yellow, and white taxa also exist. There are many

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

s in a range of colors, sometimes with spots of yellow or blue. The fruit is a spherical capsule. Dierama pendulum Hairbells Flower 0560

Etymology

The genus name is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word ''dierama,'' meaning "funnel," and alludes to the flower shape.

Diversity

There are about 44 species. Species include:Arnold, T. H. and B. C. de Wet, Eds. Plants of Southern Africa: Names & Distribution. In: ''Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa'' No. 62. National Botanical Institute, South Africa. 1993. ''Dierama''.
Red List of South African Plants. South African National Biodiversity Institute. * '' Dierama adelphicum'' * '' Dierama ambiguum'' * '' Dierama argyreum'' * '' Dierama atrum'' * '' Dierama cooperi'' * '' Dierama cupuliflorum''''Dierama cupuliflorum''.
World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Kew. *'' Dierama densiflorum''''Dierama densiflorum''.
World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Kew. * '' Dierama dissimile'' * '' Dierama dracomontanum'' * '' Dierama dubium'' * '' Dierama elatum'' * '' Dierama erectum'' * '' Dierama floriferum'' * '' Dierama formosum'' * '' Dierama galpinii'' * '' Dierama gracile'' * '' Dierama grandiflorum'' * '' Dierama igneum'' * '' Dierama insigne'' *'' Dierama inyangense''''Dierama inyangense''.
World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Kew. * '' Dierama jucundum'' * '' Dierama latifolium'' *'' Dierama longistylum''''Dierama longistylum''.
''Flora Zambesiaca''. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. * '' Dierama luteoalbidum'' * '' Dierama medium'' * '' Dierama mobile'' * '' Dierama mossii'' * '' Dierama nebrownii'' * '' Dierama nixonianum'' * '' Dierama pallidum'' * '' Dierama palustre'' *'' Dierama parviflorum''''Dierama parviflorum''.
''Flora Zambesiaca''. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. * '' Dierama pauciflorum'' * '' Dierama pendulum'' - angel's fishing rods, grassy bells,''Dierama pendulum''.
Missouri Botanical Garden. fairybell, hairbell, wedding bell * '' Dierama pictum'' *'' Dierama plowesii''''Dierama plowesii''.
World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Kew. * '' Dierama pulcherrimum'' * '' Dierama pumilum'' * '' Dierama reynoldsii'' * '' Dierama robustum'' * '' Dierama sertum'' * '' Dierama trichorhizum'' * '' Dierama tyrium'' * '' Dierama tysonii''

Uses

Some species of dierama are cultivated as

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

s, such as the purple-pink-flowered ''D. pendulum''. The South African

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 else ...

''D. erectum'' is grown for the large, pink flowers it bears on tall, erect stems. It is prone to attack by the

bean weevil The bean weevils or seed beetles are a subfamily (Bruchinae) of beetles, now placed in the family Chrysomelidae, though they have historically been treated as a separate family. They are granivores, and typically infest various kinds of seeds or ...

'' Urodon lilii''.Koetle, M. J., et al. (2010)
''In vitro'' regeneration in ''Dierama erectum'' Hilliard.
''Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture'' 103(1) 23-31. Certain species have been used in

traditional African medicine Traditional African medicine is a range of traditional medicine disciplines involving indigenous herbalism and African spirituality, typically including diviners, midwives, and herbalists. Practitioners of traditional African medicine claim ...

and

spiritual practices A spiritual practice or spiritual discipline (often including spiritual exercises) is the regular or full-time performance of actions and activities undertaken for the purpose of inducing spiritual experiences and cultivating spiritual developme ...

. ''D. erectum'' is used as an

enema An enema, also known as a clyster, is an injection of fluid into the lower bowel by way of the rectum.Cullingworth, ''A Manual of Nursing, Medical and Surgical'':155 The word enema can also refer to the liquid injected, as well as to a device ...

by the

Sotho people The Sotho () people, also known as the Basuto or Basotho (), are a Bantu nation native to southern Africa. They split into different ethnic groups over time, due to regional conflicts and colonialism, which resulted in the modern Basotho, who ...

and as a treatment for stomach problems. The corm of the plant is a fertility charm for bringing a good harvest.

Conservation

Some species, especially the narrow endemics, are decreasing in abundance due to loss of habitat. The South African natives ''D. ambiguum'', ''D. erectum'', and ''D. nixonianum'' are considered endangered species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2711838 Iridaceae genera Flora of Africa