788. Lachenalia Bulbifera

Abstract

Summary The South African geophyte Lachenalia bulbifera (Cirillo) Engl. is one of the most striking and variable members of the genus and has a long coastal distribution. Details of its history, relationships and pollination biology are given, a recently published name for this species is reduced to synonymy, and notes on cultivation are provided.

1059. Lachenalia bolusii W.F. Barker: Asparagaceae

“…It occurs across a very wide range of habitats, from semi‐arid conditions in the far north‐western parts of its range in south‐western Namibia and the Richtersveld, to areas of high winter rainfall in the southern Cape Peninsula and parts of the southern Cape, and several species occur only within seasonal pools or along their margins. Lachenalia species generally occur in open aspects in full sun, often among low succulent scrub in rocky habitats, and soil preference varies from nutrient‐deficient, sandy soils of the fynbos to mineral‐rich flats of the barren Knersvlakte south of Namaqualand (Duncan, 2012).…”

“…The largest of these, section Lachenalia comprising 92 species, was further subdivided into 13 monophyletic subsections ( Nervosae , Coriaceae , Crispae , Latae , Verticillatae , Urceolatae , Oblongae , Framesianae , Angustae , Stramineae , Inflatae, Oncoraphae and Lachenalia ) . L. bolusii was retrieved within subsection Crispae as sister to L. marlothii W.F.Barker ex G.D.Duncan, a light blue‐flowered species with a disjunct distribution in Namaqualand and the Richtersveld in the north, and the Calvinia district of the western Karoo to the south (Duncan, 2012) and these are the only members of subsection Crispae , characterised mainly by their minutely crisped leaf margins (Duncan et al, 2022).…”

“…The high level of floral diversity in Lachenalia (tubular, narrowly or widely bell‐ or urn‐shaped) is probably associated with its use of diverse pollinators, with three pollination syndromes being recognized: mellitophily, ornithophily and generalist pollination, the latter including monkey beetles, blister beetles, hoverflies, march flies, butterflies and day‐flying moths (Duncan, 2012; Duncan et al, 2022). An extraordinary level of cytological variation occurs within Lachenalia , including differences in basic chromosome number, variable ploidy levels and the presence of B‐chromosomes (supernumary chromosomes) in certain species (Kleynhans et al, 2012).…”

“…Hooker, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Editor of Curtis's Botanical Magazine ‘in acknowledgement of the great service you have rendered to South African Botany, and especially by your masterly works on the ‘Orchids of the Cape Peninsula’ and your ‘Icones Orchidearum Austro‐Africanarum’. In 1896 the German botanist and traveller Rudolf Schlechter found L. bolusii on the Biedouwberg near Wupperthal in the Western Cape, and it has since been recorded at numerous localities in the Richtersveld and Namaqualand, and on the Pakhuis Pass east of Clanwilliam, as well as in the vicinity of Calvinia in the western Karoo, with an outlier to the south‐east in the Roggeveld Mountains (Barker, 1979; Duncan, 2012). The species remained unpublished for almost a century after its discovery until W.F.…”

“…The obovoid capsules produce relatively large, globose seeds (1.2–1.3 × 1.3–1.4 mm) with a smooth, matte black testa and an inflated strophiole (an appendage that occurs in the micropylar region of the seed). The globose bulb forms occasional offsets and has a distinct neck, surrounded by several layers of spongy, dark brown tunics (Duncan, 2012).…”