A South African man placed a winning bid of almost R600 000 for the naming rights to a wild flower recently discovered in the Cederberg Mountains.
The man will be naming the flower after his mother, an avid gardener.
He hails from Johannesburg and his sister attended the recent Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) auction in London on his behalf.
He has asked to remain anonymous.
The new flower has conspicuous star-shaped flowers. It belongs to the Ixia genus, a group of plants that has been sought after by collectors and cultivators in Europe since the mid-1700’s.
His mother is still very much alive and her name is Angela. The name will be Latinised in the naming process.
We spoke to Dr Amy Goldblatt, Head of Private Givings at WWF South Africa about the plans for the flower.
The flower will be called Ixia Angeliana and the common name he has chosen is Angela's Touch.
— Dr Amy Goldblatt, Head of Private Givings at WWF
Listen to the full conversation from CapeTalk's Breakfast with Kieno Kammies:
