Seasonal Wild Flowers

Latin name

Kniphofia bruceae x linearifolia = K. x praecox

Other names

Kniphofia praecox, Torch Lily

Family

Asphodelaceae

Flowering season

April to November

Some sources limit the flowering time to August and

September.

Others suggest any time between April and November.

The plants shown here from the Isles of Scilly and the

Lune estuary near Lancaster were photographed in

June.

English distribution

The escape is scattered throughout the country.

For a map see the Botanical Society of Britain and

Ireland – Greater Red-hot-poker

Habitat

It is a neophyte introduced from South Africa in

the early 1700s.

It is widely grown in gardens and amenity areas

and has become naturalised on waste ground

and in coastal habitats such as sand dunes.

In the US and in Australia it can be an invasive weed.

Description

Greater Red-hot-poker is a perennial, clump-forming,

herb growing up to 2m.

The flowers are in a spike (a dense raceme) up

to 30cm on a stem up to 2m.

Unopen flowers are red. As they open from the bottom

they become yellow. 

Each flower is a tube formed from 6 tepals and topped 

by 6 triangular lobes.

There are 6 long stamens which extend out of the flower

as it opens.

The stamens of Greater Red-hot-poker protrude much

further than in the similar Red-hot-poker.

There is a single long style with a small 3-lobed stigma.

The bracts on the flowering stem are up to 12mm, papery,

and roughly triangular.

The leaves are up to 2m long and 4cm wide. The ends

are pointed.

Greater Red-hot-poker forms tufts and has short

rhizomes.