Lachenalia arenicola G.D.Duncan & Helme

PLANTAE / PHANEROGAMAE / ANTHOPHYTA / ASPARAGALES / HYACINTHACEAE / HYACINTHOIDEAE / MASSONIEAE / LACHENALIA / ARENICOLA

Lachenalia arenicola G.D.Duncan & Helme

Indigenous Endemic

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Morphological description

Deciduous, winter-green geophyte, 100-200 mm high. Bulb globose, 10-13 mm in diam., solitary; tunic multilayered, papery, outer layers light brown, inner layer translucent white; cataphylls 2, membranous, translucent white, upper cataphyll 22 mm long, apex acute, lower cataphyll 10 mm long, apex obtuse. Leaf solitary, broadly lanceolate, 50-110 x 15-22 mm, spreading to suberect, leathery, upper surface glaucous, lower surface flushed with purple; margins undulate, strongly coriaceous, yellowish green or brownish maroon; clasping leaf base mostly subterranean, white, 45-70 mm long; primary seedling leaf terete, erect. Inflorescence a raceme, many-flowered, sterile apex 10-15 mm long; peduncle erect to suberect, 40-100 mm long, light green, heavily mottled with purplish or pinkish brown, upper portion strongly inflated to base of rachis; rachis strongly inflated, 50-60 mm long, brownish pink at base, shading to bright pink above; bracts minute, ovate at base of inflorescence, becoming lanceolate above, 0.8-2.0 x 0.5-1.2 mm, white; pedicels 2-6 mm long, shortest at base of rachis, suberect at anthesis, becoming strongly decurved in fruit, white or light to deep brownish pink. Perianth zygomorphic, oblong campanulate, cernuous; tube disc-shaped, 1 mm long, brownish mauve; outer tepals lanceolate, 10-11 x 2 mm, slightly spreading, brownish mauve, ageing to yellowish brown; apical gibbosity prominent, broadly linear or lanceolate, purplish brown; inner tepals obovate, slightly spreading, protruding up to 0.5 mm beyond outer tepals, translucent white, median keel dark brown. Stamens well exserted, more or less straight; filaments white, 8.0-9.0 mm long; anthers oblong, 1.1 mm long; pollen yellow at anthesis. Ovary globose, light green, 2.0 x 1.7 mm. Capsule narrowly obcordate, 6.0-7.0 x 4.0-5.0 mm, pendent. Seed ovoid, 1.1 x 0.9 mm, glossy, black; strophiole 0.7-0.8 mm long, inflated. From: Duncan, GD; Helme, NA. 2014. Lachenalia arenicola (Asparagaceae: Scilloideae), a new species from western South Africa. Phytotaxa 186(5): 297-300. [http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.186.5.8] [All rights reserved]

Diagnostic description

Recognized by its moderately dense raceme of cernuous, oblong campanulate, brownish mauve flowers with disc-shaped perianth tubes, inner tepals that scarcely protrude and outer tepals with prominent purplish brown gibbosities. It has well exserted, more or less straight stamens and pedicels that change orientation after flowering, becoming strongly decurved during the fruiting stage. The plant is further recognized by a solitary, broadly lanceolate, glaucous leaf with strongly coriaceous margins, a strongly inflated peduncle and rachis and an ovoid seed with a glossy testa and an inflated strophiole. From: Duncan, GD; Helme, NA. 2014. Lachenalia arenicola (Asparagaceae: Scilloideae), a new species from western South Africa. Phytotaxa 186(5): 297-300. [http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.186.5.8] [All rights reserved]

Habitat

Deep aeolian, slightly acidic red or brown loose sand. From: Duncan, GD; Helme, NA. 2014. Lachenalia arenicola (Asparagaceae: Scilloideae), a new species from western South Africa. Phytotaxa 186(5): 297-300. [http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.186.5.8] [All rights reserved]

Distribution

Confined to the Namaqualand coastal plain, from northwestern Koekenaap in the south to near Hondeklipbaai in the north. From: Duncan, GD; Helme, NA. 2014. Lachenalia arenicola (Asparagaceae: Scilloideae), a new species from western South Africa. Phytotaxa 186(5): 297-300. [http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.186.5.8] [All rights reserved]

Occurrence records map

This map contains point-based occurrences at different locations

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Residence status

Occurrence in the Flora of Southern Africa (FSA) countries and South African provinces. Residence status indicates if a taxon is indigenous, endemic, naturalised or invasive in a specific region. This data is based on specimen records and literature

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