Published In:
Fig. Pl. 187. 1759. ( Fig. Pl.) 
|
(Last Modified On 6/6/2016)
|
|
Acceptance
:
Accepted
|
|
(Last Modified On 6/21/2016)
|
|
Description:
Small to medium-sized seasonal perennials. Corm depressed-globose, consisting of several internodes, producing roots from terminal bud, lacking tunics when mature. Stem aerial or largely to entirely underground, usually branched, branches often short and crowded distally. Leaves several, lower 3 or 4 lacking blades, thus cataphylls, foliage leaves with isobilateral, sword-shaped to linear, unifacial blades, sometimes not produced on flowering stem, basal 1 or more, largest, progressively smaller above, becoming entirely sheathing and bract-like at distal nodes; margins with subepidermal sclerenchyma without marginal vein. Inflorescences 2- to several -flowered rhipidia; spathes green, often leafy, enclosing flower buds, inner always longer than outer, margins free to base. Flowers actinomorphic, fugaceous or lasting 2(3) days, often dull coloured, usually creamy white to buff or brownish, sometimes yellow, rarely blue-violet, spotted and blotched dark brown, green or purple, without scent or scented with sweet, spicy or rotting odours; tepals free, clawed, outer slightly to significantly larger than inner, claws forming a wide or narrow cup or shallow basin, limbs spreading to slightly reflexed, margins crisped, tips attenuate and twisted; producing nectar from nectaries at base or middle of claws. Stamens symmetrically arranged; filaments united in lower ± 2/3 in smooth column, free and diverging in upper 1/3--1/4; anthers appressed to style branches, lobes joined to connective but not to each other, parallel and ± contiguous or diverging from tips. Ovary included or exserted, sometimes with sterile beak; style enclosed by filament column, dividing at column apex into short branches, each forked into flattened, diverging, conduplicate arms, usually prominently fringed on adaxial margins, stigmatic surfaces terminal on style branches or on grooved lobe below tip of abaxial margin. Capsules globose-truncate, ovoid or ellipsoid, then often beaked. Seeds usually angular, mostly 5- or 6-sided, facets separated by winged angles, ± smooth or wrinkled, in one species ± globose and reticulate. Pollen grains monosulcate, exine reticulate. Basic chromosome number x = 10.
|
|
Etymology:
named for the 15th century artist, Giovanni Ferrari, whose illustrated works were much celebrated by contemporaries; his Flora seu de florum cultura (Flora of cultivated plants) included the first illustration of Ferraria, F. crispa, drawn from plants grown in Italy.
|
|
General Notes:
Species: 18, dry parts of central and southwestern Africa, with a centre along the southern African west coast and near interior; 15 in southern Africa; generally favouring sandy soils.
The small African genus Ferraria stands out in its unsual flowers with the style branches somewhat flattened and terminating in a feathery tuft of fine hairs. The tepals are more or less equal in size and dinstictly clawed, the claws together forming a wide to shallow cup and bearing nectaries of various shapes and sometimes colours. The flower are scented, sometimes pleasantly but more often not, with odours reminiscent of rotting flesh or burned sugar in combinations difficult to describe and the tepals are usually dull-coloured and darkly spotted. The flowers of some species are specialized for fly pollination others for wasps.
The four species of summer rainfall southern and tropical Africa have an open-branched stem and sticky, viscid nodes, both probably ancestral features whereas the species of the winter rainfall west coast and interior of southern Africa have smooth stems with short branches hidden by leafy bracts. Some of the latter are almost acaulesent, with the flowers produced almost at ground level. Ferraria is sister genus to the larger genus Moraea nd the two differ not only in the flowers, those of Moraea most often Iris-like, but in the corms and leaves. In Ferraria the corm is persistent, consists of multiple internodes and has soft, evanescent tunics, and the foliage leaves are isobilateral as in most Iridaceae. In Moraea the corm is annual, replaced at the end of the growing season, consists of a single internode and has fibrous, persistent tunics and the leaves are dorsiventral and usually channeled. Despite these several and fundamental differences the two genera have been shown by molecular studies to be immediately related.
|
|
|
1
|
Anthers with filament insertion in lower 1/3 and lobes parallel and usually contiguous above filament insertion when fully dehisced; capsules globose- to ovoid-truncate or acute or beaked in one species; perianth with the tepal claws usually forming a shallow cup and bearing prominent nectaries 1/3 to 1/2 as long as claw; stigmas minute, terminal on apices of style branch arms
|
(2)
|
|
+
|
Stem aerial, slender with internodes partly exposed; basal leaves linear to falcate, with blades usually less than 5 mm wide
|
(11)
|
|
|
2 (1)
|
Upper internodes below flower clusters with sticky exudate; ovary ovoid, short, < 10 mm long; capsules ovoid to globose and truncate (subgen. Glutinosae)
|
(3)
|
|
+
|
Plants ± acaulescent or stem aerial, then upper internodes below flower clusters not sticky; ovary ± fusiform
|
(6)
|
|
|
|
3 (2)
|
Leaves several (up to 8) in basal fan; rhipidia with outer spathe 1/3 to 1/4 as long as inner
|
Ferraria candelabrum
|
|
+
|
Leaves absent at base of flowering stem or 1–4 basal; rhipidia with outer spathe 1/3 to slightly more than 1/2 as long as inner
|
(4)
|
|
|
|
4 (3)
|
Flowers brown or dark purple, sometimes marked with yellow near tepal limbs bases; tepal limbs with buff to yellow margins; flowering plants usually with 1–4 basal foliage leaves, or foliage leaves reduced; filament column 8–11 mm long; flowering (Dec.–)Jan. –March(–May)
|
Ferraria glutinosa
|
|
+
|
Flowers yellow to buff, limbs sometimes speckled with brown, dark red, purple or dull green spots; tepal limb margins not contrasting in colour; flowering plants lacking foliage leaves at base and branches subtended by sheathing leaves without blades; filament column 5.0–7.5 mm long; flowering (Sept.–)Oct. to Dec.(–early Jan.)
|
(5)
|
|
|
|
5 (4)
|
Tepal limbs speckled with dark colour and margins obviously crisped; style branch arms prominently fringed
|
Ferraria welwitschii
|
|
+
|
Tepal limbs uniformly yellow and margins plane or slightly undulate; style branch arms entire (not fringed) and arching outward
|
Ferraria spithamaea
|
|
|
|
6 (2)
|
Stem aerial, slender with internodes partly exposed; basal leaves linear to falcate, with blades usually less than 5 mm wide
|
(7)
|
|
+
|
Stem stout, mostly covered by leaf bases; leaves sword-shaped to falcate, with blades more than 5 mm wide
|
(9)
|
|
|
|
7 (6)
|
Plants ± acaulescent; tepal claws narrow in lower third, thus forming a windowed cup; nectaries concave, at apex of narrow part of claw and with raised and lobed to fringed distal edge
|
Ferraria ornata
|
|
+
|
Plants with aerial stems: tepal claws broad and not abruptly narrowed in lower part, cup not windowed; nectaries relatively large, in centre of tepal claws and without raised distal edges
|
(8)
|
|
|
|
8 (7)
|
Cauline leaves lanceolate-attenuate; flowers grey or blue-green with minute brown, maroon or violet speckling; nectaries yellowish green
|
Ferraria densepunctulata
|
|
+
|
Cauline leaves ovate-cucullate; flowers yellow with brown margins and a few conspicuous spots; nectaries cream-coloured streaked maroon
|
Ferraria ovata
|
|
|
|
9 (6)
|
Ovary with short tapering beak, ± 8 mm long; tepals 22–25(–30) mm long, pale yellow with dark brown
margins and blotches, often coalescing in outer quarter; flowers sweetly scented
|
Ferraria schaeferi
|
|
+
|
Ovary fusiform, without tapering beak; tepals 25–35 mm long, flowers variously coloured, usually dark maroon or purple with paler margins or cream-coloured to pale yellow and variously striped and blotched; flowers with an unpleasant, burnt-sugar or putrid scent
|
(10)
|
|
|
|
10 (9)
|
Blades of basal leaves with a slightly thickened zone in middle and prominent central vein; leaves 2-ranked
|
Ferraria crispa
|
|
+
|
Blades of basal leaves much thickened in middle but with weakly developed central vein; leaves spirally 2-ranked
|
Ferraria foliosa
|
|
|
|
11 (1)
|
Floral cup widening substantially toward apex, rim ± as wide or wider than depth of cup
|
(12)
|
|
+
|
Flowers with narrow cup, sides ± erect (rim of cup 1/2 to 2/3 as wide as depth of cup)
|
(14)
|
|
|
|
12 (11)
|
Flowers small, sweetly, slightly clove-scented; floral cup ± 8 mm deep, ± 7 mm wide at rim; outer tepals 18–22 mm long; filament column ± 6 mm long
|
Ferraria parva
|
|
+
|
Flower relatively large, unscented or faintly unpleasantly scented; floral cup 12–15 deep, 13–20 mm wide at rim; outer tepals 30–45 mm long; filament column 8–13 mm long
|
(13)
|
|
|
|
13 (12)
|
Plants usually subacaulescent and stem mostly covered by sheathing parts of leaves; flowers lasting 2 days; seeds (4)5(6)-sided, facets separated by raised angles, surface smooth
|
Ferraria variabilis
|
|
+
|
Plants with aerial stem and branching only distally; flowers lasting a single day; seeds ± globose, surface matte
|
Ferraria divaricata
|
|
|
|
14 (11)
|
Stem produced well above ground; basal leaves sharply distinct from cauline leaves and with internodes partly exposed; flowers with floral cup 17–20 mm deep; outer tepals 30–40 mm long
|
Ferraria ferrariola
|
|
+
|
Stem not or only shortly extended above ground (unless growing in shade); basal leaves often hardly distinct from cauline leaves (or from spathes enclosing flower clusters); floral cup 10–12 mm deep; outer tepals 25–35 mm long
|
(15)
|
|
|
|
15 (14)
|
Basal leaves broad, leathery-succulent, 8–20 mm wide, cauline leaves and spathes different from basal leaves; flowers lasting a single day, deep yellow; anthers and pollen yellow
|
Ferraria flava
|
|
+
|
Basal leaves hardly distinct from cauline leaves, rarely exceeding 12 mm wide, flowers lasting two days, watery yellow, blue or shades of beige to cream-coloured dotted with blue spots; anthers and pollen usually orange to ± red
|
(16)
|
|
|
|
16 (15)
|
Flowers usually predominantly blue to violet with dull yellow-green to khaki margins, occasionally tepal limbs pale bluish or cream-coloured, then speckled dark blue; margins of at least lowermost leaves conspicuously thickened, hyaline and partly crisped and undulate; marginal thickenings smooth
|
Ferraria uncinata
|
|
+
|
Flower pale watery yellow with darker yellow to buff or khaki margins; leaf margins either thickened then lower leaves with margins plane or serrulate to crenate, or sometimes slightly crisped or unthickened and margins plane; marginal thickenings when present often shortly velvety
|
(17)
|
|
|
|
17 (16)
|
Basal leaves with extended, lanceolate to linear blades longer than sheaths
|
Ferraria macrochlamys
|
|
+
|
Leaves with short, oblique, ovate blades less than half as long as sheaths
|
Ferraria brevifolia
|
|
|
- Specimen Heat Map
-
- Specimen Country Map*
-
* These counts only include specimens with locations in mappable countries
- Helpful Links
-
|