Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

Key to the genera
ANTHERICUM 129
1. Roots somewhat swollen rarely with tubers; if there are more than one flower
at a node, the number of flowers equals the number of bracts; pedicels without
a joint (not articulated); seeds ± solid or turgid 1. Anthericum
- Roots swollen or if not, carrying tubers; flowers most often more than one
at each node of the inflorescence or, if only one, supported by two bracts;
pedicels most often with a joint (articulated); seeds ± thin, flat or folded
2. Chlorophytum
1. ANTHERICUM L.
The genus includes small plants, up to 20 cm tall. The
rhizome is very short and the roots more or less swollen
sometimes with distal tubers. The leaves are linear to
lanceolate, sometimes slightly succulent. The peduncles,
often several to a plant, are reduced (in A. angu stifolium
and A. tetraphyllum), or stepwise contracted (in A.
neghellense). The flowers are in umbel-like or in racemose
inflorescences. The pedicels lack the joint (articulation)
that characterises most species of Chlorophytum. The
tepals are white, often with a green keel. The capsules are
rounded or shallowly three­lobed in cross section. The
seeds are ± turgid.
The delimitation of this genus in relation to Chlorophytum
has varied much through time. Several species
were transferred from Anthericum to Chlorophytum
by Kativu & Nordal (1993). And recently, two species
that were referred to Chlorophytum in the first edition
of this book and in the Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea
(Nordal 1997), have been transferred to Anthericum:
A. neghellense (Cufodontis) Bjorå & Sebsebe and A.
tetraphyllum (L.f.) Nordal & Sebsebe. As circumscribed
at present, the genus belongs mainly in the temperate to
subtropical parts of the Old World and includes ca.10
species. Recent molecular analyses might indicate that
the African species of Anthericum do not belong in the
same monophyletic group as the two common European
ones, A. racemosum L. and A. liliago L. (Bjorå 2008).
In that case the African ones will have to be referred to
a new genus. More work is needed. In American floras
the genus Anthericum is also reported to occur also in