The flowers are a cheery red heading toward coral with three dark red spots at the base of three of the petals. I know of no other bulb with anything like this color. An old plant book I have calls it carmine, but that is a color name not in my working vocabulary. Each flower is about an inch across (I measured) and held on a wiry little stem about 10 to 12 inches high, a little ways above the freesia-like foliage. They bloom here in late May through June.

They are especially welcome since they scatter themselves around a bit, finding bare spots where little else wants to grow. They need little supplemental water even in our dry climate, and do especially well in an area I had originally conceived as a native plants area that I water every 2 to 3 weeks in the summer.

The seeds are red and larger than I would have expected. Seedlings will bloom the first year if seed is planted early enough, but the first year plants are smaller than in later years.

After blooming and maturing seed, the foliage disappears to reappear with the winter rains. Hard frosts have blasted the early foliage, but always more leaves come when the weather warms, and they seem to be perfectly hardy as long as the soil does not freeze.

If you ever hear of a common name for this plant, will you please let me know. It might help lift it out of ill-deserved obscurity.

Catalog description by Gary Matson

Anomatheca is available in 4-inch pot size for $5.95 each.