Margaret Roberts, a renowned herb grower, author and specialist in the use of herbal remedies, advises hikers to put leaves in their shoes to soothe the feet, and to wrap weary feet in the leaves for half an hour. The long, strap-like leaves also make an excellent bandage to hold a dressing or poultice in place, and winding leaves around the wrists are said to help bring a fever down. Agapanthus is suspected of causing haemolytic poisoning in humans, and the sap causes severe ulceration of the mouth so the plant should not be chewed or swallowed.
Agapanthus is of the family Agapanthaceae and some of the common names are common agapanthus, blue lily (Eng.); bloulelie, agapant (Afr.); isicakathi (Xhosa); ubani (Zulu). Most of the agapanthus that are grown are cultivars or hybrids of Agapanthus praecox, which is endemic to the Eastern Cape. It is generally 0.8 to 1m tall and flowers in mid to late summer (December – February) in South Africa.
Agapanthus praecox is easy to grow and it does well even in the poorest of soils, but it must receive some water in summer. To perform at its best, give it rich, well-drained soil with ample compost (decayed organic matter) and plenty of water in spring and summer. As with most plants, they benefit most from regular (e.g. weekly) deep drenching as opposed to frequent superficial waterings. It prefers full sun and some cultivars will flower in semi-shade. All the evergreen agapanthus are best lifted and divided every four years or so to ensure flowering. A. praecox will tolerate light frost, but in areas with extreme winter temperatures they are best grown in the cool greenhouse, or in containers that can be taken into a greenhouse during winter.
Agapanthus campanulatus is deciduous, growing in spring/summer and dormant during winter. It is a clump-forming perennial, growing 0.4 to 1 m tall. The slender, glossy green or greyish-green strap-like leaves narrow to a distinct purplish stem-like base, and it produces 6-12 leaves per plant.
Agapanthus campanulatus consists of two subspecies. Leighton described them as two distinct species, but as more specimens were collected it was realised that they were extreme forms of the same species:
Agapanthus campanulatus subspecies campanulatus flower tubes are longer and the tepal lobes are less spreading than those of Agapanthus campanulatus subspecies patens whose tube is shorter than the tepal lobes and the lobes are widely spreading to reflexed.
https://maree-clarkson.blogspot.com/2013/10/alluring-and-healing-agapanthus.html
Traditionally Xhosa women (of the Eastern Cape) use the roots to make antenatal medicine, and they make a necklace using the roots that they wear as a charm to bring healthy, strong babies.
Agapanthus campanulatus roots are crushed and made into a lotion that is used to bathe newborn babies to make them strong, and the leaves are used to wash young babies. It is also used to treat ‘cradle cap’ and as a protective charm against lightning.
Umbels of 10 to 30 pale to deep blue flowers with a darker blue stripe are presented on a long flower stalk in mid- to late summer (December-March). Look closely at the flowers and you will notice that the anthers are blue-ish as well. This is because the pollen is lilac in colour – a characteristic it shares with A. caulescens and A. coddii. The fruit is a capsule containing many flat, black, winged seeds. Plants that have been in cultivation for some time tend to increase in size when compared to wild relatives.
https://depositphotos.com/112966368/stock-photo-african-lily-agapanthus-africanus-flower.html
The genus Agapanthus was established by L’Heritier in 1788. It used to be included in the Liliaceae (lily family), was then moved to the Amaryllidaceae (amaryllus and daffodil family), moved again into the Alliaceae (onion family), then back to Amaryllidaceae, and is now the only member in its own family, the Agapanthaceae.
Agapanthus has attracted a few common names over the years. In its first publication in Europe in 1679 it was called the African hyacinth. Linnaeus called it the African lily, and nowadays in Europe and America it is still known as the African lily, but also rather geographically off the mark as lily of the Nile. In South Africa they are commonly called agapanthus or bloulelie. This one is distinguished as the bell agapanthus from its Latin name.
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Graskop –
https://www.graskop.co.za/agapanthus.html
They occur only in areas where the rainfall is more than 500 mm (20 inches) per annum, from sea level to 2000 m (7000 ft), with a distribution range that extends from the Cape Peninsula in the south-west, along the southern and eastern coast of southern Africa, then inland and northwards into the mountainous regions south of the Limpopo River. The evergreen species come from the winter rainfall Western Cape and all-year rainfall Eastern Cape, and shed a few of their old outer leaves every year and replace them with new leaves from the apex of the growing shoot. The deciduous species come from the summer rainfall Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Free State, Lesotho, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Mozambique, and grow rapidly in spring with the onset of the rains, and then lose their leaves completely and lie dormant during winter.
ONAFHANKLIK 