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(Last Modified On 12/7/2016)
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Description
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Plants (80–)150–500(–750) mm high. Corm 8–15 mm diam., developing scaly rhizomes from base, sometimes producing cormlets; tunics papery, becoming finely fibrous. Stem usually branched, rarely with small cormlet in axils of upper leaves when unbranched. Leaves 6–9, mostly basal and reaching base of spike, narrowly lanceolate, 150–300 × 3–10(–15) mm, cauline leaves ± 3, progressively smaller and entirely sheathing. Spike inclined, (2–)4–12-flowered; bracts 8–18(–25) mm long. Flowers pale to deep pink, all or only lower 3 tepals with dark pink median streak; perianth tube 15–30 mm long; tepals ± spreading, linear to lanceolate, 8–12(–15) × 1–2(–3), uppermost lanceolate, 2–3 mm wide. Filaments 4–6 mm long, exserted ± 3 mm from tube; anthers 2.5–5.0 mm long, purple. Style dividing opposite or beyond anthers tips, branches 1.5–2.0 mm long. Capsules globose, 4–6 mm long. Seeds 1 or 2 (rarely up to 5 in tropical Africa) per locule, 2–3 mm diam., lightly wrinkled. Flowering time: Jan.–Mar.
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Country
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South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Malawi
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South African Province
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Limpopo, Mpumalanga
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Distribution and ecology
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ranging along the north eastern escarpment, from Swaziland to Pilgrim’s Rest in Mpumalanga in southern Africa, and northward though Mozambique and eastern Zimbabwe to Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia; in quartzite outcrops and crevices in montane grassland, 1 000–2 000 m.
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Diagnosis
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as far as currently known this is an autogamous species which is prone to the development of local forms varying in flower size, especially perianth tube length and tepal dimensions, several of which were described as distinct species. Among the southern African material we are able distinguish two more or less distinct entities, smaller flowered plants corresponding to Radinosiphon leptostachya and larger-flowered, outbreeding plants which have been named R. lomatensis. Typically, R. leptostachya has flowers with the perianth tube 15–30 mm long, and narrow, almost linear lower tepals 8–12 × 1–2 mm, with the upper tepals at most 3 mm wide. The small capsules, 4–6 mm long, contain just one or two seeds per locule (up to five in tropical African material). The species appears to have a very distinctive means of vegetative reproduction through the development of thick, scaly rhizomes. These do not always elongate, resulting in the formation of clusters of corms that are well illustrated in Carter (1962). The tropical African plants may be found on careful examination, including reproductive biology, to represent a separate taxon, the earliest name for which is R. holostachya.
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