Red hot poker
Kniphofia uvaria (L.) Oken
- light
- Full sun
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 99 cm
- wide
- 1.2 m
Asphodelaceae
Also called Red Hot Poker, Bishop's Torch, Redhot poker
Formerly Aletris uvaria, Aloe longifolia, Aloe uvaria, Kniphofia alooides, and 15 more
When it flowers
Flowers January, March to June and October to November in the tropics.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- PerennialKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- TemperateKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- SW. & S. Cape Prov.Kew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun (6 h or more)Read from RHS and NC State Extension, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
- Height
- 86 cm to 1.1 mRead from RHS and NC State Extension, checked: the middle of what its sources sayHalfway between its 2 sources, which differ. Sources differ: RHS 0.5–1 m; NC State Extension 4–4 ft
- Spread
- 99 cm to 1.5 mRead from RHS, one source
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from RHS and NC State Extension, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
- Flowers
- RedRead from RHS and NC State Extension, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: RHS orange, red; NC State Extension cream, red, yellow
- Coldest it survives
- -21.9 °C (USDA zone 6a)Read from RHS and NC State Extension, checked: the middle of what its sources sayHalfway between its 2 sources, which differ. Sources differ: RHS -15 °C; NC State Extension -28.9 °C
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
Grow it with
Suggested by a rule, not by a gardener: same climate (kew), flowering when this plant does not (inaturalist), and a different shape.
ElderFlowers February, July to September and December, when this does not
Memorial RoseFlowers February, July to September and December, when this does not
PomegranateFlowers February, July to September and December, when this does not
PurslaneFlowers February, July to September and December, when this does not
Tree RhododendronFlowers February, July to September and December, when this does not
RosemaryFlowers February and July to September, when this does not
In other languages (12)
- Spanish
- Bandera española, Molenillo
- Afrikaans
- Vuurpyl, ghoesghoeroe, rooisoldate
- German
- Schopf-Fackellilie
- Czech
- mnohokvět hroznatý
- Russian
- Книпхофия ягодная
- Swedish
- fackellilja, Fackellilja
- Chinese (China)
- 火炬花
- Danish
- Almindelig Raketblomst
- Chinese
- 火炬百合, 火把莲, 火炬花
- root
- iCacane
- French
- Tritome à longues grappes
- Hungarian
- fürtös fáklyaliliom
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- RHS, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-24, CC BY-SA 2.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- 3D model: Kniphofia uvaria (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.