After the rains end and the soils dry, the shrub drops its leaves. For a couple of months, the plant rests and resembles a small baobab (upside-down tree). When the surrounding landscape is desiccated and dormant, the impala lily bursts into masses of frilly flowers at the tips of bare branches.

Impala lily flowers are picotee—two colors with the darker of the two along the edge of the petals—usually white with red, though the flowers range from pink and red to all white. Each of the petals has three red streaks—nectar guides leading into the throat of the flower. In Florida, blooming usually commences in late November and continues into the New Year.

During the civil wars of the 1970s and '80s in Mozambique and Zimbabwe, John Eppel, formerly of Rhodesia, helped himself to an unusual souvenir. In his poem, "Spoils of War", Eppel tells of the afternoon he spent (illegally) digging a "girl-sized stem", a battle, its horrific results, spoils, and finally, planting his prize. As goes the times and tides of fortune, Eppel (1989) requests a bit of kindness for his old friend:

"...And if ever you live in our old home—
the one in the village—please remember
not to over-water my cuddlesome
stump. And if you are bothered by the law,
tell them that the plant is a spoil of war."

John Eppel's "Spoils of War" is from a book by the same name published in 1989 by Carrefour Press in Cape Town. The poem is published to the internet by Zimbabwe – Poetry International Web. To read the entire poem, click on the link: http://zimbabwe.poetryinternational.org/cwolk/view/21544

* In the poem, Eppel uses the name Adenium obesum for the Sabi star. Some taxonomists consider all Adenium a single species with a number of varieties. Under that classification, the Sabi star is known as Adenium obesum var. multiflorum (Klotzsch) Codd.

(Compiled from: The Genus Adenium in Cultivation, Part I: A. obesum and A. multiflorum, Mark A. Dimmit and Chuck Hanson, originally published by the Cactus and Succulent Society of America, 1991, published to the internet by Cactus-Mall.com and "Adenium multiflorum Klotzsch", Stoffel Petrus Bester, PlantzAfrica.com, 2004)