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!Dietes bicolor (Steud.) Klatt ex Sweet Search in The Plant ListSearch in IPNISearch in Australian Plant Name IndexSearch in NYBG Virtual HerbariumSearch in Muséum national d'Histoire naturelleSearch in Type Specimen Register of the U.S. National HerbariumSearch in Virtual Herbaria AustriaSearch in JSTOR Plant ScienceSearch in SEINetSearch in African Plants Database at Geneva Botanical GardenAfrican Plants, Senckenberg Photo GallerySearch in Flora do Brasil 2020Search in Reflora - Virtual HerbariumSearch in Living Collections Decrease font Increase font Restore font
 

Published In: Linnaea 34: 584. 1866. (Linnaea) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 6/6/2016)
Acceptance : Accepted
Taxon Profile     (Last Modified On 6/21/2016)
Description: Plants 800–1200 mm high. Stem erect, ± dichotomously branched. Foliage leaves mostly 500–800 mm long, linear, with distinct, usually double main vein, 6–12 mm wide, mostly basal, cauline leaves at lower nodes shorter; upper nodes bearing short paired opposite entirely sheathing bract-like leaves, these green or becoming dry and brown, 9-20 mm long, acute, margins free to base. Rhipidial spathes obtuse to emarginate; inner 30–45 mm long, outer ± half as long. Flowers yellow to ± white, outer tepal limbs usually with solid, dark brown or orange nectar guides at bases or guides speckled, outer tepal claws densely hairy, often speckled orange to brown; outer tepals 32–35 × 20–23 mm, claws ± 12 mm long, limbs round to oblanceolate, spreading; inner tepals 25–35 × ± 18 mm, limbs spreading. Stamens free; filaments ± 6 mm long, broad and contiguous in lower half, filiform above; anthers 4–8 mm long. Ovary 9–10 mm long; style ± 2 mm long, branches 8–15 × 7–9 mm, crests 5–9 mm long. Capsules 18–25 × 15–20 mm, globose-truncate, dehiscing in upper half. Seeds angular, dark brown. Chromosome number 2n = 40. Flowering time: mainly spring and summer, August to February; lasting a single day.
Country: South Africa
South African Province: Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal
Distribution and ecology: restricted to coastal and near interior Eastern Cape and southern Kwa-Zulu-Natal, extending from Port Edward to Grahamstown; along streams, river banks and marshy places.
Diagnosis: taxonomically isolated, Dietes bicolor is distinguished by the dichotomously branched flowering stem and pale yellow to white flowers, the outer tepals limbs usually bearing dark brown nectar guides at the bases. The tepal limbs are rounded, unusual for the genus, with the inner tepals overlapping the outer. The white- or creamy white-flowered populations in the north of the range usually have orange nectar guides and it seems useful to recognize these as a separate subspecies. D. bicolor is the only polyploid species ofthe genus and is closely related to the Lord Howe Island species, D. robinsoniana, than to any of the other African species. Both share a similar dichotomous branching pattern. D. bicolor is a valuable ornamental, now widely cultivated and often used as a street planting today. Plants may be very free flowering, and although each flower lasts only one day, plants usually produce one or more flowers almost daily for several months.
General Notes: As a result of the variation in flowers colour and proportions of floral parts across its range, two subspecies of D. bicolor are recognized. Northern population in southern KwaZulu-Natal and adjacent Eastern Cape with white to creamy white flowers with orange nectar guides are recognized as subsp. armeniaca and those to the south, from Kei Mouth to Grahamstown with yellow flowers with brown nectar guides are included in subsp. bicolor. An illustration of Dietes bicolor subsp. bicolor appears in Flowering Plants of Africa 39: plate 1525 (1968).

 


 

Specimens whose coordinates are enclosed in square brackets [ ] have been mapped to a standard reference mark based on political units.
 
 
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