Tropicos | Name - !Geissorhiza callista Goldblatt

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Iridaceae in sub-Saharan Africa

African Iridaceae > Iridaceae > Geissorhiza > Geissorhiza callista

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!Geissorhiza callista Goldblatt

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Project Name Data (Last Modified On 9/14/2016)

Acceptance : Accepted

Taxon Profile (Last Modified On 9/14/2016)

Description : Plants 150–350 mm high. Corm ± ovoid, 4–7 mm diam.; tunics ± membranous, not accumulating, light to middle brown, probably imbricate. Stem suberect or inclined, simple or 1- or 2-branched, bearing a sheathing, bract-like leaf in upper 1/3. Leaves 3 or 4(5), lower 2 or 3 ± basal, reaching to ± base of spike, linear to falcate, with thickened margins and main vein, this 2-grooved on each surface, uppermost leaf cauline, short than basal. Spike inclined, flexuose, mostly 3–5-flowered, bracts green below, flushed red to purple above, outer 10–13 mm long, inner slightly shorter. Flowers zygomorphic, nodding, with unilateral, declinate stamens and style, deep pink turning dark red-purple at tepal bases, pale in throat; perianth tube ± cylindric, widening near mouth, 22–25 mm long, well exserted from bracts; tepals oblanceolate, 24–26 × 9–12 mm, outer slightly longer than inner. Filaments unequal, unilateral, declinate; two longer filaments 16–20 mm long, shorter one 13–17 mm long; anthers ± erect, ± 4.7 mm long, purple; pollen pale pink. Syle arching below filaments, dividing ± 6 mm beyond anthers, branches ± 3 mm long. Chromosome number 2n = 26. Flowering time: November and early December.

Type specimen : Peter Goldblatt - 8680 - MO - (BC:MO-202329/A:3505909)

Distribution and ecology : restricted to the Riviersonderend Mtns and Langeberg in Western Cape; on rocky sandstone slopes and cliff often in wet mossy places, flowering well only after fire and evidently rare.

Diagnosis : with relatively large, pink flowers, dark at the base of the tepals, Geissorhiza callista is recognized also by the elongate perianth tube 22–25 mm long and unilateral stamens and style. The stamens extend well beyond the mouth of the perianth tube, and the particularly long style divides up to 6 mm beyond the anther tips. Stems are usually inclined and the leaves falcate to trailing from steeply sloping ground. Like most members of sect. Monticolae, the leaves have thickened margins and main veins and are shallowly 2-grooved or channelled on each surface. The species was included in G. grandiflora until living plants were found after a fire on south-facing slopes of the Riviersonderend Mtns in 1988. G. grandiflora differs in the erect stems, and smaller flowers, the perianth tube up to 18 mm long and tepals 20–22 mm long. The shorter style divides opposite the upper third to apex of the anthers and the style branches are 4–5 mm long, contrasting with the longer style and style branches about 3 mm long in G. callista.