Watsonia palustris (Iridaceae), a new species from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and a revised key to allied summer rainfall species

• Watsonia palustris is described and illustrated.
• Watsonia palustris is a local endemic from Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal.
• Watsonia palustris differs from allied pink-flowered species in its bracts and exserted anthers.

Watsonia palustris is a wetland species restricted to marshy grassland in the vicinity of Greytown in central KwaZulu-Natal. Belonging to a group of species of eastern South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland with pink flowers and a funnel-shaped perianth tube, it is characterized by its clumped habit, very narrow leaves, late summer flowering, partly herbaceous floral bracts, and shortly exserted anther filaments. Watsonia now comprises 53 species of corm-bearing geophytes restricted to southern Africa.