Kniphofia

red hot pokers
Fiery colored Kniphofia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Xanthorrhoeaceae
Subfamily:	Asphodeloideae
Genus:	Kniphofia Moench
Synonyms[1]
Tritoma Ker Gawl. Triocles Salisb. Tritomanthe Link Tritomium Link Rudolpho-roemeria Steud. ex Hochst. Triclissa Salisb. Notosceptrum Benth.

Kniphofia /nɪpˈhoʊfiə/,^[2] also called tritoma, red hot poker, torch lily, knofflers or poker plant, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Xanthorrhoeaceae, first described as a genus in 1794.^[3] It is native to Africa. Herbaceous species and hybrids have narrow, grass-like leaves 10–100 cm (4–39 in) long, while perennial species have broader, strap-shaped foliage up to 1.5 m (5 ft) long. All plants produce spikes of upright, brightly colored 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. In the New World they may attract sap-suckers such as hummingbirds and New World orioles.

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

Cultivars

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:-

• 'Bees' Sunset'^[5] (yellow)
• 'Brimstone Bloom'^[6] (sulphur yellow)
• 'Buttercup'^[7] (clear yellow)
• 'Nobilis'^[8] (evergreen, orange and yellow)
• K. rooperi^[9] (evergreen, oval spikes of red and yellow flowers)
• '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^[1]

1. Kniphofia acraea Codd - Cape Province of South Africa
2. Kniphofia albescens Codd - Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal
3. Kniphofia albomontana Baijnath - Lesotho, South Africa
4. Kniphofia angustifolia (Baker) Codd - KwaZulu-Natal
5. Kniphofia ankaratrensis Baker - Madagascar
6. Kniphofia baurii Baker - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
7. Kniphofia benguellensis Welw. ex Baker - Angola, Zambia
8. Kniphofia bequaertii De Wild. - Zaïre, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda
9. Kniphofia brachystachya (Zahlbr.) Codd - Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
10. Kniphofia breviflora Harv. ex Baker - KwaZulu-Natal, Free State
11. Kniphofia bruceae (Codd) Codd - Cape Province
12. Kniphofia buchananii Baker - KwaZulu-Natal
13. Kniphofia caulescens Baker - Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province, Free State
14. Kniphofia citrina Baker - Cape Province
15. Kniphofia coddiana Cufod. - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
16. Kniphofia coralligemma E.A.Bruce - Limpopo
17. Kniphofia crassifolia Baker - Limpopo
18. Kniphofia drepanophylla Baker - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
19. Kniphofia dubia De Wild - Zaire, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola
20. Kniphofia ensifolia Baker - South Africa
21. Kniphofia × erythraeae Fiori - Eritrea (K. pumila × K. schimperi)
22. Kniphofia evansii Baker - KwaZulu-Natal
23. Kniphofia fibrosa Baker - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
24. Kniphofia flammula Codd - KwaZulu-Natal
25. Kniphofia fluviatilis Codd - South Africa
26. Kniphofia foliosa Hochst. - Ethiopia
27. Kniphofia galpinii Baker - KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Mpumalanga
28. Kniphofia goetzei Engl. - Tanzania
29. Kniphofia gracilis Harv. ex Baker - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
30. Kniphofia grantii Baker - Zaïre, Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Malawi
31. Kniphofia hildebrandtii Cufod. - Ethiopia
32. Kniphofia hirsuta Codd - Lesotho, Cape Province
33. Kniphofia ichopensis Schinz - KwaZulu-Natal
34. Kniphofia insignis Rendle - Ethiopia
35. Kniphofia isoetifolia Hochst. - Ethiopia
36. Kniphofia latifolia Codd - KwaZulu-Natal
37. Kniphofia laxiflora Kunth - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
38. Kniphofia leucocephala Baijnath - KwaZulu-Natal
39. Kniphofia linearifolia Baker - Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland, South Africa
40. Kniphofia littoralis Codd - KwaZulu-Natal
41. Kniphofia marungensis Lisowski & Wiland - Zaïre
42. Kniphofia mulanjeana S.Blackmore - Mt. Mulanje in Malawi
43. Kniphofia multiflora J.M.Wood & M.S.Evans - Swaziland, South Africa
44. Kniphofia nana Marais - Zaïre
45. Kniphofia northiae Baker - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
46. Kniphofia nubigena Mildbr. - Sudan
47. Kniphofia pallidiflora Baker - Massif de l' Ankaratra in Madagascar
48. Kniphofia paludosa Engl - Elton Plateau in Tanzania
49. Kniphofia parviflora Kunth - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
50. Kniphofia pauciflora Baker - KwaZulu-Natal
51. Kniphofia porphyrantha Baker - Lesotho, Swaziland, South Africa
52. Kniphofia praecox Baker - 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 reflexa Hutch. ex Codd - Nigeria, Cameroon (endangered)^[16]
56. Kniphofia reynoldsii Codd - Tanzania, Zambia
57. Kniphofia rigidifolia E.A.Bruce - Mpumalanga
58. Kniphofia ritualis Codd - Free State, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal
59. Kniphofia rooperi (T.Moore) Lem. - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
60. Kniphofia sarmentosa (Andrews) Kunth - Cape Province
61. Kniphofia schimperi Baker - Ethiopia, Eritrea
62. Kniphofia splendida E.A.Bruce - Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, northeastern South Africa, Swaziland
63. Kniphofia stricta Codd - Cape Province, Lesotho
64. Kniphofia sumarae Deflers - Ibb Mountains of Yemen
65. Kniphofia tabularis Marloth - Cape Province
66. Kniphofia thodei Baker - Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal
67. Kniphofia thomsonii Baker - Zaïre, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia
68. Kniphofia triangularis Kunth - Lesotho, South Africa
69. Kniphofia typhoides Codd - Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Mpumalanga
70. Kniphofia tysonii Baker - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province, Swaziland
71. Kniphofia umbrina Codd - Swaziland
72. Kniphofia uvaria (L.) Oken - - Cape Province; naturalized in Mexico, North Carolina, Spain, Oregon, Turkey, Washington State, St. Helena, California

Gallery

• 

  Yellow Kniphofia

• 

  'Shenandoah' Red Hot Poker

• 

  Kniphofia uvaria

• 

  Kniphofia foliosa in Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia

References

1. Kew 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. ISBN 1405332964.
5. "RHS Plant Selector - Kniphofia 'Bees Sunset". Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
6. "RHS Plant Selector - Kniphofia 'Brimstone Bloom'". Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
7. "RHS Plant Selector - Kniphofia 'Buttercup'". Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
8. "RHS Plant Selector - Kniphofia 'Nobilis'". Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
9. "RHS Plant Selector - Kniphofia rooperi". 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. "Kniphofia reflexa". Redlist.org. Retrieved 2012-05-13.

External links

• Dressler, S.; Schmidt, M. & Zizka, G. (2014). [http://www.africanplants.senckenberg.de/root/index.php?submitForm=true&page_id=77&searchTextMenue=Kniphofia&filterRegionIDs[]=6&filterRegionIDs[]=1&filterRegionIDs[]=2&filterRegionIDs[]=3&filterRegionIDs[]=5 "Kniphofia"]. African plants – a Photo Guide. Frankfurt/Main: Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg.