Tropicos | Name - !Geissorhiza ovalifolia R.C. Foster

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Iridaceae in sub-Saharan Africa

African Iridaceae > Iridaceae > Geissorhiza > Geissorhiza ovalifolia

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!Geissorhiza ovalifolia R.C. Foster

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

Acceptance : Accepted

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

Description: Plants small, 30–70(–90) mm high. Corm ovoid, ± 2 mm diam., tunics concentric, soft-papery. Stem usually prostrate near base, upright distally, rarely 1-branched. Leaves 4 or 5, lower 3 or 4 basal, prostrate, plane, lanceolate-oblong, or ovate, acute, 10–40 × 2–5 mm wide, uppermost cauline, entirely sheathing, with a cormlet in axil of 1 or more basal or rarely cauline leaves. Spike 1-4(-6)-flowered, flexuose; bracts soft, ± membranous above, 4–7 mm long, inner usually slightly shorter than outer. Flowers actinomorphic, rotate, white, yellow in throat; perianth tube 2–3 mm long, flaring from base; tepals ovate, 6–8 × ± 3.5 mm. Filaments erect, equal; 2–3 mm long; anthers 1.5–3.0 mm long, white. Style dividing opposite apex of anthers, branches 1.2–2.0 mm long. Capsules ovoid, 3–5 mm long. Flowering time: late September to mid-November.

Country: South Africa

South African Province: Western Cape

Distribution and ecology: mountains of Western Cape from the Twenty Four Rivers Mtns in the north to Franschhoek in the south; usually in shaded sites in damp moss on rock outcrops and cliffs.

Diagnosis: the diminutive and small-flowered Geissorhiza ovalifolia is distinguished by the stem prostate at the base and erect distally, and four or five plane leaves at least the lower three or four prostrate and ovate to oblong. Plants often produce a cormlet in the axils of the basal and even cauline leaves. The flowers are white with a pale yellow throat and have a perianth tube 2–3 mm long and tepals 6–8 mm long. It is often confused with the more widespread and common G. bolusii, which occurs in similar habitats in the Western Cape mountains. G. ovalifolia is evidently sexually fertile, and capsules develop rapidly after blooming whereas the triploid G. bolusii is sexually sterile and reproduces by the production of cormlets in all basal and cauline leaf axils as well as in the axils of the floral bracts after flowering. The two can sometimes also be distinguished by the number of cauline sheathing leaves, one in G. ovalifolia but usually several in G. bolusii but the difference does not always hold.