Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

144 ANTHERICACEAE
Habitat and
distribution
Chlorophytum
somaliense
10 mm long, articulate below the middle, 2–4 together at the lower
nodes. Perianth star­shaped, white with dull pinkish stripes on the
outside; tepals 7–15 mm long, 3 (–5) veined; both filaments and
anthers 4–5 mm long. Capsule shallowly transversely ridged,
rounded triangular in cross section. Seeds irregularly folded, c 2
mm in diameter.
Growing in lava grassland or burnt areas in dry
woodland, from 550 to 2300 m. The species is rare
and found within the Illubabr and Sidamo floristic
regions, otherwise widespread in tropical Africa west
to Guinea and south to Mozambique and Zambia.
6. Chlorophytum somaliense Baker
The species epithet is self­evident, the species was
described on material collected in Somalia, by the
German collector Hilde brandt. It was described by Baker
in 1893. This name was not in use for about 100 years
until Nordal and Thulin revised the genus on the Horn
of Africa in 1993. Before then it was known by the name
C. tenui florum Baker. It is easily distingui shed from
Fig. 75. Chlorophytum somaliense, from Sidamo floristic region.