C. capense (L.) J.C. Manning & Vinnersten subsp. capense
The plants are found growing amongst short grass and have no stem, Leaves usually 3 or 4, spreading or prostrate, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, often with wavy, hairy margin, leathery, 40–150 mm long, bracts broadly ovate, green above but marked with white below or mostly white not striped, 50–­80 mm high and wider than the leaves, flowers 2–5, tepal blade concave at base more or less as long as the tepal claws, tepal claws 8–10 mm long, filaments 5–7 mm long, styles as long as or slightly longer than ovary. Flowering time: May–August. (March–April in the northern hemisphere). Plants grow on clay or loam flats in the southwestern Cape.

C. hantamense (Engl.) J.C. Manning & Vinnersten
Stemless geophyte, leaves lanceolate, 90–230 x 10–60 mm, margin ciliate, 2–5 flowers enclosed in large white bracts which are sometimes striped in green. Tepal blades concave at the base, almost twice as long as the tepal claw, stamens almost as long as the tepals. Flowering time: June–August. Plants grow on clay or loam flats on the Hantam Plateau around Nieuwoudtville southwards to Clanwilliam in the southwest.

C. melanthioides (Willd.) J.C. Manning & Vinnersten
Plants with or without a visible stem, 100–200 mm high. Leaves suberect, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, channeled, 100–300 mm long, bracts ovate-lanceolate, creamy white to pinkish with green veins. Flowers 3–7, stalked, tepal blade concave at base, more or less as long as the tepal claws, stamen slightly as long as the tepal blade. This species is subdivided into three subspecies of which two are dealt with here:

C. melanthioides (Willd.) J.C. Manning & Vinnersten subsp. melanthioides
Tepal may reach 12–18 mm in length. Flowering time: May–August in Mpumalanga and Swaziland , February–April in northern Namibia at 645–2 500 m altitudes.

C. melanthioides subsp. transvaalense (U.Müll.-Doblies & D.Müll.-Doblies) J.C. Manning & Vinnersten
Tepal may reach 10–12 mm in length. Flowering time: January–March in Mpumalanga and Swaziland at 1 100–2 000 m altitudes.

C. striatum (Hochst. ex A.Rich.) J.C. Manning & Vinnersten

Stem extended above the ground, the plants are 150–350 mm tall, leaves 100–185 x 3–14 mm, bracts with longitudinal grooves, white and strongly striped with green, surrounding 3–9 flowers, tepal blades concave at the base, twice as long as the tepal claw, stamen almost as long as the tepal blade. Flowering time: July to August. Plants grow in high rainfall grassland on rock crevices, distributed world-wide, from South Africa (Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, Lesotho, Mpumalanga and Limpopo) to Ethiopia.