Wurmbea viridiflora Oosth. & K.Balkwill

Species

Angiosperms > Liliales > Colchicaceae > Wurmbea

Characteristics

Summer growing geophyte up to 320 mm high when in bloom and 350 mm when in fruit. Corm oblong ovoid, 10-15 mm x 5-10 mm. with brown tunics, produced into a narrow submembraneous flimsy neck, 10-25 mm long. Stem green sometimes light brownish red just above the tunics, 50-180 mm long from the corm to the upper leaf, 1.0-1.5 mm in diam. Leaves, green, alternating up the stem. Basal leaf solitary, usually erect and somewhat flexuous, green, narrowly linear, 100-300 x 2-4 mm, indistinctly many-veined; apex long attenuate; margin mostly involute to make leaves appear subterete, sometimes flat, entire; base broad, sheathing. Cauline leaves 2, usually erect and somewhat flexuous, indistinctly many-veined; apex attenuate; margin involute to make leaves appear subterete, entire; lower cauline leaf inserted about the middle of the stem, 100-220 mm long, with sheath portion 10-40 mm long; upper cauline leaf inserted 10-25 mm below the flowering spike and up to 60 mm below the fruiting spike, 30-100 mm long with sheathing portion 15-40 mm long. Inflorescence spicate, 3-10-flowered; peduncle 10-40 mm long in bloom and up to 65 mm long in fruit; rachis 15-60 mm long in bloom and up to 90 mm long in fruit, somewhat stout with flowers spaced 2-6 mm apart and fruit up to 15 mm apart, the indeterminate axis often somewhat flexuous and zig-zag in fruit. Perianth: 5-6 mm long; tepals 6, stellately spreading, each with 3 veins running from the tip to the base; tube greenish-cream without, cream within, broadly cylindrical gradually widening upwards, 1-2 x 1.5-3.0 mm broad; lobes strongly clawed, diverging, 3-4 mm long; claws cream flushed light greenish cream without, cream within; limbs cream sometimes flushed light greenish cream, margins sometimes involute. Nectary a distinctly raised area largely distal to the point of attachment of the filament, with a gradually declining distal face and a central, 1 mm long, parallel-sided groove in which the filament rests, the inner faces of the proximal ends of the groove touch the filament, indistinctly lighter cream. Filaments white, straight, free section about 2 mm long; anthers violet brown on young flowers turning golden yellow to brownish yellow on older ones, dorsifixed near the base, rounded-oblong; thecae 0.6 x 0.2 mm. Pistil ovary green, rarely with a purple tinge, oblong-elliptic, 4-5 mm long; styles 3, light creamish-green, conical, subulate, 3-4 mm long; stigmas suberect to erect, small, capitate. Capsule oblong to oblong-ovoid, 3angled, 8-15 x 3-4 mm, about twice as long as perianth remains. Seeds rhomboid with rounded corners, 0.7 x 0.8 mm, slightly compressed, brown with a finely reticulate and shiny surface. Flowering specimens have been collected from January through to March.
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Mature height (meter) 0.32
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Soil humidity 4-9
Soil texture 3-6
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Cultivation

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Distribution

Wurmbea viridiflora world distribution map, present in South Africa

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77204151-1
WFO ID wfo-0001421019
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Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Wurmbea viridiflora