Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

200 HYACINTHACEAE
Fig. 95. Drimia
altissima, from
Shewa floristic
region.
Habitat and
distribution
and with up to 500 flowers. Bracts c. 5 mm long, with spurs c. 2 mm.
Pedicels 13–40 mm long, patent. Tepals free or united up to 2 mm,
5–10 mm long, white or greenish white with a green or purplish
band on the outside. Filaments flattened, slightly triangular, free
part 4–7 mm long. Capsule subglobose, sometimes emarginate (that
is with sunken apex), 10–14 × 9–15 mm. Seeds flat, 5–9 mm long.
This species is found in more or less wood ed grassland
or bushland, often over grazed or recently burnt, on
black loamy soils, from 800 to 2600 m. It is found all
over Ethiopia except in the extreme lowland of Afar. It
is also widespread in tropical and southern Africa west
to Senegal and south to the Cape in South Africa. The
main flowering period in Ethiopia is from November to
March.
6. ALBUCA L.
This genus differs from the other genera in the family
by its yellow flowers with greenish keels, where the
inner tepals close the flower, hiding stamens and ovary.
Further, the filaments have expanded bases clasping the
ovary. The ovary is ridged, and space is created between
the clasping filaments and the ovary wall, thus creating
containers that are filled with nectar from the nectaries in