• Red Hot Poker Flower Facts

Kniphofia/nɪpˈhoʊfiə/,^[2] also called tritoma, red hot poker, torch lily, knofflers^{[citation needed]} or poker plant, is a genus of perennialflowering plants in the familyAsphodelaceae, first described as a genus in 1794.^[3] It is native to Africa.

I have some Kniphofia uvaria (Red Hot Poker) seedlings that I started, and am wondering if I might be able to grow them in a container, or if they need to be placed in the ground? The only information I've been able to find is that they have long taproots, so I assume the container would have to be quite deep.

Description[edit]

Herbaceous species and hybrids have narrow, grass-like leaves 10–100 cm (4–39 in) long, while evergreen species have broader, strap-shaped foliage up to 1.5 m (5 ft) long. All plants produce spikes of upright, brightly coloured flowers well above the foliage, in shades of red, orange and yellow, often bicoloured.^[4] The flowers produce copious nectar while blooming and are attractive to bees and sunbirds. In the New World they may attract sap-suckers such as hummingbirds and New World orioles.

Etymology[edit]

The genus Kniphofia is named after Johann Hieronymus Kniphof, an 18th-century German physician and botanist.

Cultivation[edit]

Several species of Kniphofia are cultivated as garden plants, valued for their architectural properties. These include K. galpini, K. northiae, K. rooperi and K. thomsonii.

In addition to the species, many named cultivars of mixed or uncertain parentage have been selected for garden use. The following have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:-^[5]

• 'Bees' Sunset'^[6] (yellow)
• 'Brimstone Bloom'^[7] (sulphur yellow)
• 'Buttercup'^[8] (clear yellow)
• 'Nobilis'^[9] (evergreen, orange and yellow)
• 'Royal Standard'^[10] (red and yellow)
• 'Samuel's Sensation'^[11] (tall herbaceous variety, scarlet flowers fading to yellow at the base)
• 'Sunningdale Yellow'^[12] (orange-yellow)
• 'Tawny King'^[13] (cream/brown)
• 'Toffee Nosed'^[14] (cream/brown)
• 'Wrexham Buttercup'^[15] (yellow)

Species[edit]

There are about 73 described species.^[1][16]

1. Kniphofia acraeaCodd - Cape Province of South Africa
2. Kniphofia albescensCodd - Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal
3. Kniphofia albomontanaBaijnath - Lesotho, South Africa
4. Kniphofia angustifolia(Baker) Codd - KwaZulu-Natal
5. Kniphofia ankaratrensisBaker - Madagascar
6. Kniphofia bauriiBaker - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
7. Kniphofia benguellensisWelw. ex Baker - Angola, Zambia
8. Kniphofia bequaertiiDe Wild. - Zaïre, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda
9. Kniphofia brachystachya(Zahlbr.) Codd - Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
10. Kniphofia brevifloraHarv. ex Baker - KwaZulu-Natal, Free State
11. Kniphofia bruceae(Codd) Codd - Cape Province
12. Kniphofia buchananiiBaker - KwaZulu-Natal
13. Kniphofia caulescensBaker - Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province, Free State
14. Kniphofia citrinaBaker - Cape Province
15. Kniphofia coddianaCufod. - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
16. Kniphofia coralligemmaE.A.Bruce - Limpopo
17. Kniphofia crassifoliaBaker - Limpopo
18. Kniphofia drepanophyllaBaker - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
19. Kniphofia dubiaDe Wild - Zaire, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola
20. Kniphofia ensifoliaBaker - South Africa
21. Kniphofia × erythraeaeFiori - Eritrea (K. pumila × K. schimperi)
22. Kniphofia evansiiBaker - KwaZulu-Natal
23. Kniphofia fibrosaBaker - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
24. Kniphofia flammulaCodd - KwaZulu-Natal
25. Kniphofia fluviatilisCodd - South Africa
26. Kniphofia foliosaHochst. - Ethiopia
27. Kniphofia galpiniiBaker - KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Mpumalanga
28. Kniphofia goetzeiEngl. - Tanzania
29. Kniphofia gracilisHarv. ex Baker - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
30. Kniphofia grantiiBaker - Zaïre, Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Malawi
31. Kniphofia hildebrandtiiCufod. - Ethiopia
32. Kniphofia hirsutaCodd - Lesotho, Cape Province
33. Kniphofia ichopensisSchinz - KwaZulu-Natal
34. Kniphofia insignisRendle - Ethiopia
35. Kniphofia isoetifoliaHochst. - Ethiopia
36. Kniphofia latifoliaCodd - KwaZulu-Natal
37. Kniphofia laxifloraKunth - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
38. Kniphofia leucocephalaBaijnath - KwaZulu-Natal
39. Kniphofia linearifoliaBaker - Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland, South Africa
40. Kniphofia littoralisCodd - KwaZulu-Natal
41. Kniphofia marungensisLisowski & Wiland - Zaïre
42. Kniphofia mulanjeanaS.Blackmore - Mt. Mulanje in Malawi
43. Kniphofia multifloraJ.M.Wood & M.S.Evans - Swaziland, South Africa
44. Kniphofia nanaMarais - Zaïre
45. Kniphofia northiaeBaker - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
46. Kniphofia nubigenaMildbr. - Sudan
47. Kniphofia pallidifloraBaker - Massif de l' Ankaratra in Madagascar
48. Kniphofia paludosaEngl - Elton Plateau in Tanzania
49. Kniphofia parvifloraKunth - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
50. Kniphofia paucifloraBaker - KwaZulu-Natal
51. Kniphofia porphyranthaBaker - Lesotho, Swaziland, South Africa
52. Kniphofia praecoxBaker - Cape Province
53. Kniphofia princeae (A.Berger) Marais - Zaïre, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi
54. Kniphofia pumila(Aiton) Kunth - Zaïre, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea
55. Kniphofia reflexaHutch. ex Codd - Nigeria, Cameroon (endangered)^[17]
56. Kniphofia reynoldsiiCodd - Tanzania, Zambia
57. Kniphofia rigidifoliaE.A.Bruce - Mpumalanga
58. Kniphofia ritualisCodd - Free State, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal
59. Kniphofia rooperi(T.Moore) Lem. - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
60. Kniphofia sarmentosa (Andrews) Kunth - Cape Province
61. Kniphofia schimperiBaker - Ethiopia, Eritrea
62. Kniphofia splendidaE.A.Bruce - Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, northeastern South Africa, Swaziland
63. Kniphofia strictaCodd - Cape Province, Lesotho
64. Kniphofia sumaraeDeflers - Ibb Mountains of Yemen
65. Kniphofia tabularisMarloth - Cape Province
66. Kniphofia thodeiBaker - Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal
67. Kniphofia thomsoniiBaker - Zaïre, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia
68. Kniphofia triangularisKunth - Lesotho, South Africa
69. Kniphofia typhoidesCodd - Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Mpumalanga
70. Kniphofia tysoniiBaker - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province, Swaziland
71. Kniphofia umbrinaCodd - Swaziland
72. Kniphofia uvaria(L.) Oken - Cape Province; naturalized in Mexico, North Carolina, Spain, Oregon, Turkey, Washington State, St. Helena, California
73. Kniphofia vandewegheiFischer & Ackermann - Rwanda

Gallery[edit]

• Yellow Kniphofia

• 'Shenandoah' Red Hot Poker

• Kniphofia foliosa in Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia

• Kniphofia along the Ohlone Greenway trail in El Cerrito, California

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abKew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
2. ^Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607
3. ^Stevens, P.F., Angiosperm Phylogeny Website: Asparagales: Asphodeloideae
4. ^RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008. p. 1136. ISBN1405332964.
5. ^'AGM Plants - Ornamental'(PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 57. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
6. ^'RHS Plant Selector - Kniphofia 'Bees Sunset'. Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
7. ^'RHS Plant Selector - Kniphofia 'Brimstone Bloom''. Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
8. ^'RHS Plant Selector - Kniphofia 'Buttercup''. Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
9. ^'RHS Plant Selector - Kniphofia 'Nobilis''. Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
10. ^'RHS Plant Selector - Kniphofia 'Royal Standard''. Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
11. ^'RHS Plant Selector - Kniphofia 'Samuel's Sensation''. Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
12. ^'RHS Plant Selector - Kniphofia 'Sunningdale Yellow''. Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
13. ^'RHS Plant Selector - Kniphofia 'Tawny King''. Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
14. ^'RHS Plant Selector - Kniphofia 'Toffee Nosed''. Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
15. ^'RHS Plant Selector - Kniphofia 'Wrexham Buttercup''. Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
16. ^'A New Species of Kniphofia from Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda'. Novataxa. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
17. ^'Kniphofia reflexa'. Redlist.org. Retrieved 2012-05-13.

External links[edit]

• Dressler, S.; Schmidt, M. & Zizka, G. (2014). 'Kniphofia'. African plants – a Photo Guide. Frankfurt/Main: Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg.

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