Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

Chlorophytum
geophilum
Description
Habitat and
distribution
1. Chlorophytum geophilum Poellnitz
CHLOROPHYTUM 139
This species was described by the German botanist von
Poellnitz in 1943, based on specimens from Tanzania.
The species epitet (geo=earth, soil; philum=loving)
refers to the prostrate growth habit and reduced peduncle,
inferring that all parts of the plants will be close to the
ground.
Plants up to 5 cm high. Rhizome short, carrying thin roots with
elongated tubers. Leaves in a prostrate rosette, lanceolate, petiolate,
glabrous, up to 20 cm long and 4–8 cm wide with prominent veins.
Peduncle, if present, shorter than 2 cm, so that the inflorescence
appears at ground-level among the leaves. Inflorescence up to
5 cm long, dense, often branched, sometimes looking almost
capitate; floral bracts large up to 10 mm long, often ciliate. Pedicels
apparently without a joint, c. 5 mm long, often reflexed in fruit,
several at a node. Perianth whitish, tepals 6­8 mm long, with 5
veins; stamens as long as the tepals; anthers c. 2mm long, shorter
than the filiform filaments. Capsule shallowly trigonous in cross
section, c. 5 mm long and 4 mm wide, smooth. Seeds saucer­shaped,
2 mm in diameter.
The species is rare in Ethiopia, so far only found in
the Gambella area (Illubabor floristic region) and in
the Tekezze Valley (Gonder floristic region). It grows
in clumps in ± bare patches in grassland and woodland
between 550 and 1000 m. It is widespread in the savanna
region of Tropical Africa, west to Burkina Faso and south
Fig. 72. Chlorophytum gepåhilum, from Tekeze, Gonder floristic region.