Hypoxis hemerocallidea Seeds | African Potato

African Potato (Hypoxis hemerocallidea) with bright yellow star flowers above grass-like leaves — African Potato (*Hypoxis hemerocallidea*): Hypoxidaceae, a cormous grassland perennial of southern Africa with starry yellow flowers.

LATIN NAME: Hypoxis hemerocallidea

COMMON NAME: African Potato

Plant Profile

African Potato is a cormous perennial of the star-grass family, forty centimetres tall in flower, with strap-shaped leaves that arch outward and are covered beneath with fine white hairs. The flowers are bright yellow, star-shaped and carried in succession on a slender scape through spring and summer.

It grows in the grasslands of eastern South Africa, from the Eastern Cape through KwaZulu-Natal into Mpumalanga, in full sun on sandy or stony ground that burns in winter and soaks in summer. The corm sits just below the surface, and it is the reason the plant is so heavily collected. Leaves die back after flowering, and the corm rests until the next rains.

Science & Biotechnology

The genus is large and taxonomically difficult, with many species separated by small differences in leaf hair and flower structure. Hypoxis hemerocallidea is the best known because of its chemistry rather than its botany: the corm contains hypoxoside, a glycoside that breaks down in the body to rooperol.

Rooperol has been studied for immune modulation and for prostate conditions, and the plant is the basis of a large commercial supplement trade in South Africa. Research has raised two concerns: the activity of extracts is inconsistent between sources, and wild collection for the trade has put pressure on populations. The white hairs beneath the leaves are not decoration: they trap a layer of still air and cut water loss in the heat of the grassland.

Uses & Benefits

The corm is the traditional medicine, used as a tonic and for urinary complaints, and it is sold fresh in informal markets across the region. Modern products are usually standardised extracts, and cultivation is now promoted as a way to take pressure off wild stocks.

In the garden the plant is grown for its flowers, which open in full sun and close in the afternoon, and for its tolerance of poor, dry ground. It works at the front of a border, in a rock garden or in a grassland planting, and it needs little beyond drainage.

Growing from Seed

Sow fresh seed on the surface of a sandy mix, cover very lightly, and keep at twenty to twenty-five degrees in bright light. Germination is quick, often two to four weeks, and the seedlings are grass-like for their first year, which makes a labelled pot worthwhile.

Do not disturb the seedlings: the corm forms slowly and a moved plant sulks. Grow them in deep pots for two seasons, keep them dry in winter, and plant out into sharp-draining ground in full sun. Flowers usually appear in the second or third year, once the corm has reached two centimetres across.

Our Take

A grassland plant with a real flower and a real conservation story. Grow it from seed, keep it dry in winter, and leave the wild corms where they are. Seed is also the only way to take pressure off a wild harvest that is heavy across the whole range.

Tree Seeds