Tropicos | Name - !Geissorhiza fourcadei (L. Bolus) G.J. Lewis

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Iridaceae in sub-Saharan Africa

African Iridaceae > Iridaceae > Geissorhiza > Geissorhiza fourcadei

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!Geissorhiza fourcadei (L. Bolus) G.J. Lewis

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Project Name Data (Last Modified On 6/6/2016)

Acceptance : Accepted

Taxon Profile (Last Modified On 9/7/2016)

Description : Plants 150–300 mm high. Corm ± ellipsoid, 6–10 mm diam., corms of previous seasons persistent and accumulating below current corm; tunics brown, woody to soft-papery, concentric but sometimes imbricate by displacement especially when soft, fragmenting irregularly from base and apex, outer layers sometimes ± fibrous, extending upward in a collar with decaying leaf bases. Stem erect, smooth, simple or 1- or 2-branched, bearing 2 or 3 dry sheathing bracts below spike. Leaves 3–5, lower 2–4 leaves basal, terete or nearly so, margins and main vein much enlarged, thus narrowly 4-grooved, ± 1/2 to as long as stem, uppermost cauline, short, partly to entirely sheathing. Spike 1-flowered on main axis and lateral branches; bracts drying near apex, (12–)16–30 mm long, inner as long, or slightly shorter than outer. Flowers salver-shaped, pink to purple; perianth tube (8–)17–20 mm long, cylindric, widening gradually near apex, reaching almost to tips of bracts or shortly exserted; tepals oblanceolate-elliptic, 25–30 × ± 11 mm. Filaments equal, 13–20 mm long; anthers 10–12 mm long, brown; pollen brown. Style eccentric, dividing opposite or beyond anther tips. Flowering time: mid-January to early May.

Country : South Africa

South African Province : Eastern Cape, Western Cape

Distribution and ecology : widespread but fairly rare in the mountains of southern Western and Eastern Cape and recorded from the Great Swartberg between Swartberg Pass and Meiringspoort, the Kammanassie Mtns and the Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma Mtns from Robinson’s Pass to Witte Els Berg; in stony sandstone ground, evidently in damp situations, including seeps and stream banks.

Diagnosis : Geissorhiza fourcadei is distinctive in the genus in the persistent bases of leaves and cataphylls which accumulate in a collar around the stem base and in the spike and its branches always bearing just one flower. It is also notable having the corms of past seasons often persist instead of decaying, so that a series of old corms accumulate behind the current one. The late summer to autumn blooming habit is unusual and related to its pollination by long proboscid flies that are on the wing at this time of year. G. fourcadei seems isolated in the subgenus but is best referred to sect. Weihea in which there is a tendency for the reduction of the number of flowers in the spike. It also stands out here in its terete 4-grooved leaf. Some collections from the Swartberg stands out as having unusually short bracts (12–15 mm long) and a short perianth tube (± 8 mm long) but otherwise match G. fourcadei well. It seems to represent nothing more than a depauperate population as other collections from the Swartberg are more or less typical and accord with those from the Outeniqua Mtns.