Tropicos | Name - !Babiana ambigua (Roem. & Schult.) G.J. Lewis

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Iridaceae in sub-Saharan Africa

African Iridaceae > Iridaceae > Babiana > Babiana ambigua

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!Babiana ambigua (Roem. & Schult.) G.J. Lewis

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

Acceptance : Accepted

Taxon Profile (Last Modified On 11/2/2016)

Description: Plants 50–80(–160) mm high including leaves. Corm with fibrous, netted tunics, with small cormlets at base; non flowering plants with long, unbranched stolons with terminal corms or young plants. Stem underground or reaching shortly above ground level, without basal fibrous collar, suberect or inclined, lightly hairy, often with cormlets in underground axils. Leaves linear to lanceolate, exceeding stem, usually fairly narrow, 3–10(–15) mm wide, pleated, softly hairy. Spike crowded, decumbent, 2–4-flowered; bracts usually entirely green or with brown tips, finely to velvety hairy, 15–30(–40) mm long, inner ± as long or slightly shorter than outer, divided to base. Flowers borne close to ground level, zygomorphic, blue to mauve, occasionally lilac, with white to cream markings on lower lateral tepals edged in darker blue to purple, sweetly or spicy fragrant; perianth tube obliquely funnel-shaped, 10–19 mm long; tepals unequal, dorsal 28–45 × 10–12 mm, lower tepals joined to upper laterals for 2–4 mm and to one another for 2–4 mm, 20–30 mm long. Stamens unilateral; filaments arcuate, 13–16 mm long; anthers linear, 6–8 mm long. Ovary smooth or sparsely hairy on ribs distally; style dividing opposite anther tips, style 4–6 mm long, expanded in upper 1/3. Flowering time: late July to September.

Country: South Africa

South African Province: Northern Cape, Western Cape

Distribution and ecology:

fairly widespread in Western Cape, but extending from Botterkloof in Northern Cape and the Gifberg, in the north to Riversdale in the south; mostly in deep coastal sands or stony or sandy mountain slopes and plateaus.

Diagnosis: Babiana ambigua is distinguished by acaulescent habit, sterms lacking a collar of fibres around the base, rather soft-textured fibrous corm tunics and floral bracts divided to the base. The relatively large flowers are predominantly dark blue to violet with white to creamy white markings and have a sweet or spicy scent. It is often confused with a second coastal species, B. nana, and the two sometimes occur together, B. nana flowering somewhat later in the season than B. ambigua. A series of hybrids between the two species have been described by Lewis (1959) from the Cape Peninsula and on the Atlantic coast to the north. Although similar in general appearance B. nana usually has a short aerial stem and larger and more intensely fragrant flowers, the perianth often a deeper colour and, most importantly, the inner bracts are undivided, thus currently placed in sect. Teretifolieae. Lewis also reported hybrids between B. ambigua and the related and similar B. scabrifolia from the Olifants River valley. B. grandiflora is also easily confused with B. ambigua but coastal Namaqualand plant has the inner floral bracts notched apically. Not only do the inner bracts differ but the flower is considerably larger with the dorsal tepal 45–55 mm long compared with 28–40 mm in B. ambigua.