Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

152 ANTHERICACEAE
Fig. 79.
Chlorophytum
gallabatense,
from near
Yabello, Sidamo
floristic region.
Habitat and
distribution
Chlorophytum
micranthum
clasping below, occasionally petiolate, 10–75 × 2–4 cm, the margins
glabrous or minutely scabrid, undulate; peduncle glabrous, leafless,
occasionally with a single sterile bract below the inflorescence, up
to 20 cm long. Inflorescence pani culate; branches most often with
short internodes, more elongated in shadow­forms, rachis glabrous
to scabrid. Pedicels scabrid, 2–4 at a node, articulated near or
above the middle, 3–10 mm long. Perianth with reflexed tepals,
yellowish to greenish, 5–7 mm long, 3­veined. Capsule emarginate,
triquetrous, 3–5 × 5–7 mm, smooth. Seeds disc­ to saucer­shaped,
2.5 mm in diameter.
The species is commonly found in more or less degraded
and heavily grazed woodland dominated by Acacia,
Combretum, Commiphora and/or Terminalia, between
700 and 2100 m. It is found in the Tigray, Shewa, Wellega,
Gamo Gofa, Sidamo, Bale and Harerge floristic regions
in Ethiopia and also in Eritrea. It is otherwise widespread
in Africa west to Senegal and south to Zimbabwe. The
main flowering period is from April to June; in the
southern provinces it has a second period also in October
to November.
15. Chlorophytum micranthum Baker
The species epithet micranthum is of Greek origin and
means small-flowered (anthos = flower). It was described
by Baker in 1878, based on a Schweinfurth collection
from the Sudan. It is closely related to Chlorophytum