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Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

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182 AMARYLLIDACEAE<br />

Description<br />

Habitat <strong>and</strong><br />

distribution<br />

Notes<br />

Leaves, 30–50 × 1–3.5 cm, glabrous. Scape 18–20 cm long, glabrous;<br />

inflorescence (1–)2–3-flowered, subtended by a membranaceous<br />

entire bract, sometimes with an apical split. Pedicels 1–2.5 cm long.<br />

Perianth tube 1–2 cm long; free tepal segments 3–5.5 cm long, 0.5–<br />

0.8 cm wide, pure white, spreading; corona reduced to 12 triangular<br />

teeth, i.e. two teeth between each <strong>of</strong> the 6 stamens, each tooth up to<br />

5 mm long. Filaments c. 2 mm long, about 1 cm long, style slightly<br />

over topping the anthers at anthesis. Capsules 3.5–4 cm long <strong>and</strong> 1.2<br />

cm wide, carrying the persistent perianth tube at the apex. Seeds<br />

black, several, globose, 4–5 mm in diameter.<br />

It grows in open Combretum-Terminalia bushl<strong>and</strong> at<br />

1370 m, <strong>and</strong> is so far only known from the wild near<br />

Assosa in Welle ga. It has otherwise been collected a few<br />

times in Chad (in cultivation), Cameroon <strong>and</strong> the Central<br />

African Republic. The flowering pe riod in <strong>Ethiopia</strong> is<br />

from May to June.<br />

The species has, as indicated above, a very short perianth<br />

tube compared to the other species in the genus. This<br />

might indicate that the pollinators are smaller hawkmoths<br />

with a relatively short proboscis. The rarity <strong>of</strong> the<br />

species indicates that it is vulnerable.

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