Hessea breviflora Herb.—Plants up to 200 mm high; bulb extended into a stout neck. Leaves 2(3), often emerging at flowering, 4–16 mm wide, shiny green, flushed with red basally, surrounded by a prominent brownish red sheath.

Flowers 10–55, star-shaped, 7–15 mm long, pale to deep pink, sometimes scented, stamens slightly shorter to longer than the tepals, spreading, fused into a 1.0–4.5 mm long filament tube. April–May.

Sandy pockets between rocks on lower slopes. Namaqualand, Olifants River valley to Hopefield.

Hessea monticola Snijman—Plants up to 250 mm high; bulb with a long neck. Leaves usually 2, dry at flowering, 1.5–3.0 mm wide.

Flowers usually 10–30, star-shaped, white to pink with deep pink stripes leading down the throat, unpleasantly scented, tepals 10–25 mm long, with crisped edges, stamens shorter than the tepals, the filaments fused into a 1 mm long tube. March–May, usually after fire.

Rocky slopes or elevated, seasonally wet valleys. Piketberg and Cederberg to Houhoek Mountains.

Hessea undosa Snijman—Plants up to 230 mm high; bulb with a slender neck. Leaves 2, dry at flowering, 1–2 mm wide.

Flowers 7–20, star-shaped, glistening pale to deep pink, with a reddish centre, scentless, tepals 6.5–8.0 mm long, with crisped edges, as long as the spreading stamens, the filaments fused into a basal tube up to 1 mm long. June–July.

Seasonally waterlogged sandstone rock pockets. Mountains near Vanrhynsdorp.

G. afra L. Plants 100-140 mm high. Leaves 12-30, linear, erect to spreading, spiralled, usually channelled, occasionally with simple, soft spreading hairs on one or both surfaces or the margin. Flower cup-shaped, white with pink reverse, tepals 20-35 mm long, anthers 9-18 in clusters of 6, style straight, as long as the stamens, stigma small. Berry club-shaped, fleshy, yellow to red. Flowering time: December to January. Lowland flats in fynbos from Clanwilliam to Heidelberg.

G. villosa (Thunb.) Thunb. Plants 30-150 mm high, sometimes clumped. Leaves 4-12, narrow and tapering to each end, spreading, loosely spiralled towards the apex, more or less covered with soft, white, T-shaped hairs, the margin and apex often with dense, firm, compound hairs. Flower white or pink, tepals 20-40 mm long, anthers 6, style longer than the stamens, curved sideways, stigma broadly 3-lobed. Berry slender, cylindrical, membranous, white with red seeds. Flowering time: October to December. In sand or clay on flats or south-facing slopes, Namaqualand to Mossel Bay and western Karoo.

Eriocephalus ericoides is the most widely distributed species of Eriocephalus and is subdivided into two subspecies, E. ericoides subsp. ericoides and E. ericoides subsp. griquensis. The former thrives in the stony clay and sandy flats from Namibia to the Free State and the Northern, Western and Eastern Cape. The latter is restricted to the Northern Cape, stretching from the Orange/Gariep River to near the Botswana border.

Eriocephalus eximius is restricted to high mountainous areas along the Southern Great Escarpment.