Home | > | List of families | > | Hypoxidaceae | > | Hypoxis | > | polystachya |
Synonyms: |
Hypoxis katangensis Nel Hypoxis multiflora Nel. Hypoxis orbiculata Nel Hypoxis pedicellata Nel Hypoxis subspicata Pax |
Common names: | |
Frequency: | |
Status: | Native |
Description: |
Robust perennial herb to 75 cm tall. Rhizome vertical, 3–5 × 4–6 cm, subglobose or hemispheric with a flat base, or up to c. 8 cm long and ± cylindrical, with numerous stout contractile roots about the middle. Leaves (3)5–9(12), ± rigidly erect, becoming lax, usually conduplicate with narrowly funnel-shaped sheaths broadly membranous-hyaline on the margins; lamina increasing to c. 75 cm long, 0.5–2 cm wide (width measured when folded blades are spread apart and flattened), linear, gradually tapering to a narrowly acute apex, strongly many-ribbed with ribs ± spaced, thinly loosely pilose to densely spreading pilose-pubescent, more sparsely so on the adaxial (inner) surface, the hairs finely 2–8-armed (stellate), sometimes appressed silvery-strigose on young growth; outermost leaves reduced to membranous sheaths with or without small blades, the entire outer surface ± densely sericeous-lanate to glabrescent; pseudostem 4–20 cm long and up to 12 mm in diameter. Inflorescences 1–5(8), usually appearing with the leaves. Scapes up to c. 37(45) cm long, overtopped by the mature leaves, strongly flattened in cross-section, 2–5 mm wide, width reducing in steps as pedicels diverge, whitish sericeous to spreading pubescent particularly towards the apex and on the margins towards the base; bracts 7–40 mm long, subulate to linear-lanceolate; pedicels erect-ascending, the lower ones 5–25 mm long, the upper decreasing in length. Flowers 3–14(25) in a raceme-like ± cylindrical arrangement 3–13 cm long. Outer tepals 10–18 × 4–5 mm, lanceolate with ± involute margins, silvery strigose-sericeous abaxially, often drying greenish; inner tepals 10–12 × 5–8 mm, broadly elliptic, glabrous except for the abaxial midrib, the hairs unequally 3–6-armed (stellate) usually with one arm strongly developed. Filaments 1.3–1.6 mm long; thecae 3–4.5(5.7) mm long. Style 0.5–1(2.3) mm long; stigma 1–2(3.5) mm long. Capsule 4–8 × 3–6 mm, turbinate, 16- to 20-seeded. Seeds black and glossy, 1.2–1.7 mm in diameter, globose; testa papillose, the papilla minute varying from incipient dome-shaped undulations to sharply conical points, the cuticle smooth and shiny. |
Notes: | |
Derivation of specific name: | polystachya: with many stalks, referring the multiple inflorescences the plants often display. |
Habitat: | In montane grassland and high rainfall woodland. |
Altitude range: | 900 - 2250 m |
Flowering time: | |
Worldwide distribution: | Angola, DRC, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. |
Malawi distribution: | N,C |
Growth form(s): | |
Endemic status: | |
Red data list status: | |
Insects associated with this species: | |
Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
Content last updated: | Friday 21 October 2022 |
Literature: |
Burrows, J.E. & Willis, C.K. (eds) (2005). Plants of the Nyika Plateau Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 31 SABONET, Pretoria Page 309. (Includes a picture). Nordal, I. & Zimudzi, C. (2001). Hypoxidaceae Flora Zambesiaca 12(3) Pages 14 - 15. |
Home | > | List of families | > | Hypoxidaceae | > | Hypoxis | > | polystachya |