Kniphofia (Red hot poker, Torch lily, Poker plant) is a genus of plants in the family Asphodelaceae that includes 70 or more species native to Africa. Some species have been commercially used for horticultural use and are commonly known for their bright, rocket-shaped flowers. These plants produce spikes of brightly-coloured, hanging, red-to-orange flowers. This gives names such as “torch” and “red hot poker” to many of them.

Kniphofia thomsonii, commonly known as Alpine Poker, is one of the most strikingly distinct species of Kniphofia. The well-spaced individual flowers, each gracefully curving downward, give these plants a resemblance to Lachenalia or Phygelius. This attractive evergreen perennial is an East African species of Kniphofia that grows up to about 4,000 meters on Mount Kilimanjaro. It is the only alpine plant in the genus and also the only tropical species of Kniphofia widely cultivated. Kniphofia thomsonii has leaves that are 60 to 90 cm tall, with the inflorescence spike reaching up to 1.5 meters. Unlike the typical clumping habit of most other Kniphofia, it spreads wide on short rhizomes, forming a patch several meters wide. The narrow, keel-shaped leaves are a glaucous blue-green, and the various shades of orange flowers, ranging from dark orange-red in bud to pale tangerine at maturity, are produced for much of the year, with a peak in spring. However, they seem to be almost continuously in bloom. These flowers are more reminiscent of an aloe, as they are widely spaced (lax) on the last 45 to 75 cm of the 90 to 150 cm inflorescence.

Plant in full to part sun, where it prefers rich, damp soil, but it can also grow in moderately dry conditions as long as it receives some summer irrigation. It is reported to be hardy to around -18 to -15°C, making it suitable for USDA Zone 7 and above. The native range of this species includes northern Tanzania and the highlands of Kenya, extending into Uganda and Zaire. The name Kniphofia honors Johann Hieronymus Kniphof (1704-1763), a German physician and botanist. This plant was described by the English botanist John Gilbert Baker in 1885 as Kniphofia thomsonii to honor the collector who sent the plant, collected on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, to Baker at Kew. Baker only listed the collector by the surname “Thomson,” but it is likely that it was Harry Thomson, who led the Royal Geographic Society & British Association expedition to Mount Kilimanjaro in 1884.