The name baboon flower comes from the Afrikaans bobbejaan, because the corms of this iris-family native are a documented food source for baboons in its home range along South Africa's Western Cape. The corms are covered in a thick reddish tunic, round and substantial enough to sustain both the plant and the wildlife that finds them. In spring they produce ribbed, prominently veined leaves and clusters of flowers in a soft, shifting range of colors: mauve, purple to pink, cream, and pale yellow, often with contrasting markings and dark purple to near-black anthers at the center. The RHS has recognized it with a Garden Merit Award.

Growing 6 inches to 1.5 feet tall from corms planted 4 to 6 inches deep in fall, baboon flower forms clumps 1 to 2 feet wide in full sun and well-drained rocky or clay soil. It wants moisture while growing and blooming, then a dry summer dormancy once the foliage dies back — a rhythm familiar to anyone who has grown South African bulbs. In zones 9 and 10 it is a reliable perennial; in colder climates, it performs best in pots that can come indoors before frost, or grown as an annual. The pollinators it attracts in spring are a reminder of how far a garden can reach when the plants in it come from somewhere genuinely different.