This stunning South African native is gradually becoming naturalized in California. They are members of the lily family. The genus Kniphofia is named for a German physician and botanist, Johann Hieronymus Kniphof.
Identification: Plants reach 3-4′ (91-121 cm) in height, and are
2-3′ (60-91 cm) around. (There are many larger and smaller cultivars as well, such as ‘Nancy’s Red’.)
Leaves are long and narrow, up to 2′ (60 cm) × 1″ (2.5 cm), like a tuft of large grass.
Large oval-shaped flowerheads form on a stalk in the center of each plant. Unbelievably cool
flowerheads are composed of
hundreds of tubular flowers, red on top, grading through orange to yellow on the bottom.
The flowers are favorites of hummingbirds.
From Edwards's Botanical Register; Consisting of Coloured Figures of Exotic Plants Cultivated in British Gardens; with their History and Mode of Treatment. London 21: t. 1745, as Tritoma burchellii.