Wachendorfia paniculata

Koffiepit is a perennial herbaceous plant of 10–90 cm (3.9–35.4 in) high, that emerges from a roughly egg-shaped, red rootstock of up to 5 cm (2.0 in) in diameter. Its dull to yellowish green, line- to narrowly lance-shaped or broadly sickle-shaped leaves of 1–7 mm (0.039–0.276 in) wide and 5–35 cm (2.0–13.8 in) long, each have three veins, may be hairy or hairless, appear annually during the winter half year and die when the plant releases its seed to survive the dry, hot summer. The flowering stem is densely covered in short, simple hairs, may sometimes reach a height of 1 m (3.3 ft) and is 3–15 mm (0.12–0.59 in) in diameter. The inflorescence is a lax or dense panicle with 5-20 scorpiioid cymes, each of which contains up to seven flowers. The bracts at each branching are 5–50 mm (0.20–1.97 in) long, dry, brown and papery in consistency during flowering, more of less enclose the base of the branch and have a tip that tapers to a long point with concave edges, which is often recurved.^[1]

The mirror-symmetrical, slightly scented perianth has six apricot, orange or pale to bright yellow tepals of 13–31 mm (0.51–1.22 in) wide and 4–16 mm (0.16–0.63 in) wide (on average 21×10 mm) that sometimes have a row of regularly spaced hairs of equal length along their margin. The lower three tepals are free and the lower central tepal is often wider than the others. The upper central tepal is often shorter, narrower, curved at the top and with brownish hair on the back comparable to the hair on the pedicel.^[1] The upper three tepals often have dark markings,^[4] and have merged with each other at their base, which is the location of the two nectaries. The three stamens are two thirds to three quarters of the length of the tepals and spread widely. The anthers at the tip of the stamens are 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) long and 0.8–1.0 mm (0.031–0.039 in) wide. The style is conspicuously diverted to either the right or left, opposite two of the stamens and 15–21 mm (0.59–0.83 in) long, which is as long as the shortest of the three stamens. The fruit is a sharply three-lobed capsule of about 1 cm (0.39 in) high and 0.5 cm (0.20 in) in diameter. Each of the three cavities contains one spherical, brown seed of about 2 mm (0.079 in) in diameter that is covered in coarse hairs.^[1]

The base chromosome number is 15 (n=15).^[1]

W. paniculata differs from W. thyrsiflora, which is a large to very large, 0.6–2 m (2.0–6.6 ft) high, evergreen herb with golden yellow flowers in a dense spiky inflorescence, with leaves mostly much wider than 1.5 cm (0.59 in), and that is restricted to damp environments (not a small to large, 0.1–0.9 m (0.33–2.95 ft), deciduous herb with apricot, yellow or orange flowers in a lax to dense panicle, with leaves narrower than 2 cm (0.79 in), and that may grow in dry and wetter circumstances). W. brachyandra has apricot to pale yellow flowers in a lax panicle, clustered stamens, which are like the style less than half the length of the tepals (not apricot to pale or bright yellow or orange flowers in a lax to dense panicle, diverging stamens and style of at least two thirds as long as the tepals). W. multiflora is a small plant of up to 25 cm (9.8 in) high, with leaves that are usually longer than the very short and dense inflorescence, with green, erect bracts, dull yellow, later purplish brown flowers with narrow tepals, 15–25 mm (0.59–0.98 in) long and 3–6 mm (0.12–0.24 in) wide (not a small to large plant of 10–90 cm high, the inflorescence usually longer than the leaves, with brown and papery bracts that often have recurved tips, and apricot to yellow or orange flowers with wide tepals of 13–31 mm (0.51–1.22 in) long and 4–16 mm (0.16–0.63 in) wide).^[1]