Name
Impala Lily, Desert Rose or Sabi Star
Latin Name
Adenium multiflorum – Southern Africa [true Impala Lily] Adenium obesum – East and North Africa [species known as the Desert Rose]
Description
Impala Lily flowers mainly in July, but will also bloom as late as mid-September in places where it is cultivated. Flower size is about ± 5 cm across.
Habitat
The Impala Lily [Adenium multiflorum] grows in northern KwaZulu-Natal, eastern Mpumalanga and Limpopo, Swaziland, Mozambique and Zimbabwe and extending into eastern and western tropical Africa to Malawi and Zambia.
Field Notes
The Impala Lily is a showy flower that has been compared to a miniature baobab. The plant contains certain toxins that are harmful to domestic stock although they are seldom eaten by animals. The toxins are used by the Bushmen as poisons for their arrowheads, although usually in conjunction with the toxins from another plant.
