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(Last Modified On 7/18/2016)
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Description:
Plants mostly 600–800 mm high. Stem enclosed below by overlapping leaf bases, exposed above, branched from upper nodes, branches sometimes 2(3) per node, and primary branches themselves often 1(2)-branched; upper nodes and distal parts of internodes sticky, often with sand adhering. Leaves at base 5–8, ± narrowly sword-shaped-linear, straight, 8–10 mm wide, with visible central vein; margins not thickened; cauline leaves well developed, shorter than basal, progressively reduced above and becoming largely sheathing and bract-like. Rhipidia at least 3 or 4-flowered; inner spathe 28–32 mm long, outer entirely sheathing, usually ± 1/3(–1/4) as long as inner. Flowers on pedicels slightly longer than spathes; ?lasting a single day, brown with yellow markings or pale yellow, evidently odourless; tepals ascending with claws forming a cup 11–12 mm deep, ± 9 mm wide at rim, limbs ± spreading, ± 10 mm long, margins crisped; nectaries not evident; outer tepals 20–25 mm long, claws 11–13 mm long, inner tepals slightly smaller, claws tapering to narrow base. Stamens with filaments united in a column ± 11 mm long, free in upper ± 1.5 mm; anther thecae ± parallel, ± 3 mm long, shorter after anthesis. Ovary usually exserted, narrowly ovoid, ± 3 mm long; style branches ± 1.5 mm long, dividing into diverging, prominently fringed arms ± 2 mm long; stigmas terminal on tips of style arms. Capsules globose-truncate, ± 8 mm long. Seeds unknown. Flowering time: February to April, possibly also in January.
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Distribution and ecology:
known to us from just four collections, none with well-preserved flowers, Ferraria candelabrum is recorded from central Angola and adjacent western Zambia. Plants grow in rocky, well-drained sites. Collections usually mention hilly places, but the type of the synonym, Moraea kitambensis, is said to be from a swampy place (which seems unlikely)..
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Diagnosis:
none of the collections of Ferraria candelabrum has well-preserved flowers but the colour was described as yellow in the type collection, brownish in one other, and buff with dark brown stripes and spots in a third. Despite the lack of precise floral details, the vegetative habit is unique among the tropical African species. Plants stand up to 800 mm high, and have a basal fan of several (up to 8) long, relatively soft-textured leaves. The stem is branched repeatedly, the branches terminating in unusually slender rhipidia about 30 mm long. Notably the outer of the two rhipidial sheaths is 1/3–1/4 as long as the inner, giving the plants a distinctive appearance. Ferraria candelabrum is no doubt closely allied to the widespread subtropical African F. glutinosa and was included in that species by De Vos in 1979. The unusually narrow rhipidia and short outer spathe makes the species easy to recognize. Unlike F. candelabrum, F. glutinosa has a single or rarely up to three basal leaves, sometimes poorly developed at flowering, a stem usually with the primary branches themselves only occasionally branched and large capsules 12–18 mm long, compared to capsules ± 8 mm long, known only from the somewhat atypical collection from Lubango in Angola (De Menezes 1661).
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General Notes:
Ferraria andongensis is provisionally included in the synonymy of F. candelabrum. Although flowering in January and fruiting in March, plants of the type collection are much less robust, at most only 300 mm tall, and have only one basal leaf and a second, well developed cauline leaf, both with narrow blades, ± 2.5 mm wide. The outer inflorescence spathes are short, about a third as long as the inner, and this as well as the small capsules are consistent with F. candelabrum. Welwitsch, in his notes, described the flowers as dull sulphur yellow. The anthers are short, ± 2 mm long. Little more can be deduced from the type material.
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