Boophone

Boophone is a small genus of herbaceous, perennial, bulbous plants in the amaryllis family, with two confirmed species distributed from South Africa to Kenya and Uganda. They are drought tolerant but not cold-hardy. The Wikipedia article covers the genus, and the plant named Boophone disticha is the species it describes in traditional use. The genus name comes from the Greek for ox and death, because the plants are toxic to cattle, and the article calls them very poisonous to livestock. Boophone disticha is used in South African traditional medicine by the Zulu people to induce hallucinations for divinatory purposes and for various mental illnesses, although its use is limited by injuries that result from the plant's toxicity. The bulbs have also been ingredients in traditional arrow poisons and in medicinal dressings for skin lesions. Larvae of two moth genera, Brithys and Diaphone, feed on it.