This unnamed Streptocarpus species has been shown on the GRW for many years but has still not been described. First discovered by an amateur botanist around 2000, he sent pictures to Olive Hilliard in Edinburgh to ask her to describe it. However, without a type specimen, a new species cannot be described. Microscopic analysis of a preferably life specimen should also be made to document its morphological characteristics. As it’s locality in Eswatini (former Swaziland) is in a remote gorge, a botanical specimen has not been collected to this date, but local botanists now have plans to recollect it and to describe it. For the moment, we will refer to this species as Streptocarpus sp. (Eswatini).
As can be seen from the photographs, this is a small petite unifoliate which grows in rock cracks on cliff walls. It is floriferous with many small cup-shaped flowers open at the same time, with a white corolla tube with pale yellow markings on the corolla floor. The corolla lobes can be white or mauve making a very attractive display. The species occurs at higher altitudes. It has similarities to Streptocarpus occultus but that occurs about 150 km to the north in Mpumalanga Province in South Africa but is quite distinctive. Quite a few more Streptocarpus species have been identified in southern Africa which will hopefully be described in the not too distant future.
