Perennial, deciduous, small to large, bulbous herbs, sometimes forming clumps
Bulb
ovoid to globose; scales imbricate, loose, outer enveloping inner, occasionally fibrous, occasionally pinkish; roots many, usually thick
Leaves
1-many; usually developing after flowering; terete, linear to lorate
Inflorescence
a tall or short, cylindrical or subcapitate raceme with few to many flowers; peduncle erect, cylindrical; bracts usually spurred, the tail occasionally large and coloured, falling early
Flowers
white, mauve, brown or green, with darker keels; pedicels short to long, erect or spreading-erect
Tepals
free or rarely fused at base, lobes usually spreading or spreading-erect, deciduous, cohering above when withered, circumscissile below
Stamens
6, free, arising from base of tepals; filaments spreading, or erect and somewhat connivent, filiform or somewhat flattened; anthers linear or linear-oblong, versatile, introrse, opening by longitudinal slits
Fruit
a globose to ovoid capsule, 3-angled, dehiscing loculicidally
Seeds
flat, winged, black, shiny, papillate
x = 10 (aneuploids, high polyploidy)
Classification Notes:
Some species are better placed in
Drimia
, with some authors regarding
Urginea
as a synonym of
Drimia
(Jessop: ### (1976)~(Page number missing - No access to the publication), Stedje 1996)
Nomenclature:
Urginea
Steinh.
Steinheil: 321 (1834)
Baker: 462 (1897)
Duthie: 1 (1928)
Adamson: 237 (1942)
Sölch et al.: 73 (1970)
Deb & Dasgupta: 819 (1982)
Urgineopsis
Compton
Compton: 107 (1930)
Phillips: 189 (1951)
Drimia
in sense of Jessop
Jessop: 269 (1977) in part
Stedje: 655 (1987)
Stedje: 15 (1996)
Distribution & Notes:
Global
: Species ± 100, Africa, Mediterranean, India
Southern Africa
: Species ± 24, widespread, all countries and provinces
Additional Notes:
Known to cause poisoning of stock
Used medicinally
References:
ADAMSON, R.S. 1942. Some Peninsula species of
Urginea
.
Journal of South African Botany
8
BAKER, J.G. 1897.
Liliaceae
.
Flora capensis
6,2
COMPTON, R.H. 1930.
Urgineopsis
. Novitates Africanae.
Journal of Botany, London
68
DEB, D.B. & DASGUPTA, S. 1982. Generic status of
Urginea
Steinheil (
Liliaceae
).
Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany
3
DUTHIE, A.V. 1928. Contribution to our knowledge of the Stellenbosch Flora. The species of
Urginea
of the Stellenbosch Flats.
Annals of the University of Stellenbosch
6,A,2
JESSOP, J.P. 1976. Studies in the bulbous
Liliaceae
in South Africa. The taxonomy of
Massonia
and allied genera.
Journal of South African Botany
42
JESSOP, J.P. 1977. Studies in the bulbous
Liliaceae
in South Africa. The taxonomy of
Drimia
and certain allied genera.
Journal of South African Botany
43
PHILLIPS, E.P. 1951. The genera of South African flowering plants.
Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa
No. 25
SÖLCH, A., ROESSLER, H. & MERXMÜLLER, H. 1970.
Liliaceae
.
Prodromus einer Flora von Südwestafrika
147
STEDJE, B. 1987. A revision of the genus
Drimia
.
Nordic Journal of Botany
7
STEDJE, B. 1996.
Flora of tropical East Africa
.
Hyacinthaceae
STEINHEIL, A. 1834.
Urginea
.
Annales des Sciences Naturelles Botanique
, sér 2, 1
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