The leaves of Habranthus species are linear-shaped and grow in general erect. Most species are decideous. The leaves grow out after the flowering period. The only known evergreen is H. robustus, or better, it can grow as an evergreen. Some plants of this species are evergreens, whereas other plants lose their leaves in autumn. Remarkable!
The general flowering period is June-September. The mostly suberect, bell-shaped flowers are solitary. They flower one or two days. I grow Habranthus species indoors. In warm and sunny summers, like we had in 1999, one bulb can form up to three inflorescences. In my opinion the production of an inflorescence is induced by a high temperature (> 25 ºC) and direct sunlight. Growing the species outside is less succesful than when you grow them indoors. When planted outdoors, the plants rarely flower, even in a summer we had in 1999.
Habranthus tubispathus has its habitat to South Brazil, East Argentina and Central Chile. The linear leaves can reach a lentgh of 15 cm and a width of three to five mm. The plants flower in the period June till September. In the literature there is written about the flowers that the inside of the tepals is yellow coloured and on the outside coppery or purplish red. This gives no answer to the question whether the complete outside has this colour or that there is also some yellow in it?
In my opnion there is a variation of flower colours.
Three years ago I bought seeds of, a.o., H. andersonii and H. tubispathus from the Seed Exchange of the International Bulb Society. Habranthus andersonii is a synonym of H. tubispathus. The plants of both 'species' flowered for the first time in 1999. I saw directly the differences between the plants: different colours of the outside of the tepals and shapes of the flowers. The flowers of H. tubispathus are almost completely coppery or purplish red on the outside, whereas the tepals of the flowers of 'H. andersonii' are yellow with copper/red stripes at the base and at the tips. The shape of the flowers is also different. The tepals of 'H. andersonii' are slightly more spread.
With these differences you question yourself: do these to plants belong to the same species? If they belong to the same species, then there is some variation in the species. Can we then speak of a number of varieties or even maybe subspecies? Who knows the answers to these questions?