Watsonia pillansii

Watsonia pillansii, commonly the orange watsonia and in Afrikaans the knolpypie (little corm pipe), is a cormous perennial reaching heights from 90 cm to 1,6 m. The robust plants form clumps and also large colonies.

The species distribution is in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the eastern coastal part of the Western Cape, the southern Cape. It possibly also grows in Lesotho. The photo was taken near the Sani Pass.

The habitat is rocky grassland from the coast to elevations around 2400 m. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century.

The plant is popular with gardeners, in the past also used as a cut flower (Pooley, et al, 2025; Manning, 2009; Pooley, 1998; Gledhill, 1981; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).