Hessea speciosa Snijman

Species

Angiosperms > Asparagales > Amaryllidaceae > Hessea

Characteristics

Bulb solitary, deep-seated, subglobose, 25-60 mm diam., covered with several layers of cream-coloured cottony fibrous tunics, extended into a stout neck 100-170 mm long. Leaves absent at anthesis, 2, recurved, lorate, up to 120 x 4-6 mm, plane, glabrous, dark green and flushed with red towards the base; amplexicaul cataphyll remaining subterranean; prophyll unknown. Inflorescence dense, hemispherical to spherical, 70-120 mm across; scape erect to somewhat flexuose, 60-160 mm long, 3-5 mm diam., initially green, breaking off at the base in fruit; spathe valves linear-lanceolate, 20-40 x 3-7 mm; bracteoles up to 25 mm long. Flowers (20-)30-65, spreading, stellate, white to delicate pink with deep pink or greenish median stripes on the undersurface, ageing to light brown, with a heavy coconut-like scent; pedicels straight, 20-50 mm long, becoming straw-coloured. Tepals almost free to the base or very shortly adnate to the staminal tube for up to 0.25 mm, otherwise outspread, oblong-lanceolate, 8-15 x 2-4 mm, with plane edges. Stamens equalling or up to 2 mm longer than the tepals, becoming outspread; filaments connate proximally into a tube protruding (1.0-)1.5-4,0 mm above the perigone throat, subulate above, occasionally shortly toothed in the axils between adjacent filaments; anthers centrifixed, 3 mm long and dark wine-red before opening; pollen cream-coloured. Style up to 15 mm long, narrow throughout, with nectar collecting in a well around the base. Seeds unknown.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention -
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) -
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color -
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture 3-6
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) -

Usage

Uses -
Edible -
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Distribution

Hessea speciosa world distribution map, present in Namibia and South Africa

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:961502-1
WFO ID wfo-0000658355
COL ID 3L68H
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Hessea speciosa