Ferraria crispa, commonly called the sea spider or the black flag and in Afrikaans inkpotjie (the little ink pot), spinnekopblom (spider flower) and krulletjie (little curl). Such a range of names confirms that the flowers do not go unnoticed.

The plant is a monocot belonging to the Iris family. It grows from a naked, disc-shaped corm. The flower has quite a range of colours including cream, light yellow, brown, maroon, black and even green, with complex patterns of stripes, dots and other markings.

It grows in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape from the Cederberg to the Cape Peninsula and eastwards to George and the Baviaanskloof.

The habitat is deep sandy soils, on granite outcrops, often near the coast. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (www.pacificbulbsociety.org).