Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

120 ASPHODELACEAE
Fig. 64 (left):
Kniphofia
schimperi, from
Entoto, Shewa
floristic region.
Fig. 65 (right):
Kniphofia
thomsonii, from
Mt. Kenya,
Kenya.
Kniphofia thomsonii
Description
Habitat and
distribution
7. Kniphofia thomsonii Baker
The specific epithet ‘thomsonii’ was given in honour of
the collector, Thomson, from whose collection the type
of the species was designated. The species was described
by Baker in 1885 from a plant collected from Kilimanjaro
in Tanzania.
The species is clearly distinguished from the
related species, K. schimperi by the somewhat denser
inflorescence, with 5–10 flowers per cm, usually growing
on all sides of the inflorescence, and the wider bracts.
Plants slender with fibrous remains of leaves at the base. Leaves
linear, keeled; keels and margin minutely papillose­scabrid or
smooth. Peduncle (including raceme) 40–65 cm long. Raceme
lax to subdense. Bracts white, of variable width. Perianth yellow,
orange, lemon­yellow to orange­red, pendulous, cylindrical, 23–25
mm long, widening at the mouth, more or less constricted at the
base. Stamens and style only shortly exserted, up to 2.5 mm long,
stamens eventually withdrawn.
The species grows on steep grassy or rocky slopes and
marshy ground between 2400 and 3650 m in the Shewa,
Arsi, Bale, Sidamo, and Harerge floristic regions. It also
occurs in Kenya and Tanzania. The main flowering period
in Ethiopia is from June to September.