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.