Fortnight Lily

Dietes belongs to the iris family. Genus plants are rhizomatous evergreen perennials that generally resemble beardless iris. Dietes bicolor comes from South Africa, and is often commonly called African iris. It produces fan-shaped clumps of iris-like, narrow, sword-shaped, basal, evergreen leaves. Flowers appear on branched stalks. In frost-free areas, plants bloom from spring to fall and intermittently throughout winter. Flowers last one day, but are quickly replaced. Each flower (to 2” wide) has three light yellow tepals with dark brown blotches at the bases and three petal-like staminoids that lack blotches. Each flower stalk carries a large supply of buds. Flowering occurs in bloom bursts that often occur at 2 week intervals, hence the sometimes used common name of fortnight lily