Clivia gardenii is native to KwaZulu Natal and the Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. Its range is overlapped entirely by the natural range of Clivia miniata. C. gardenii blooms in autumn, producing an umbel of pendant tubular flowers. C. gardenii is superficially similar to C. caulescens, but it never produces the stalk found on older, mature plants of caulescens.

Clivia gardenii is distinguished from C. caulescens principally in that the stamens of caulescens are shorter than the perianth tube ("petals"), i.e., stamens are "inserted" in caulescens, while those of gardenii are longer than the perianth tube, i.e., are "excerted."

A form of gardenii that grows in streams, referred to as the "Swamp Clivia", may be a distinct race or even a separate species.

  

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