Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

Description
Habitat and
distribution
GLORIOSA LITTONIA 215
Erect herb 20–50 cm high. Corm obovate, 4.5 × 1.0 cm; tunics
brownish. Leaves along the stem, sessile, subopposite to alternate;
leaf­blade linear­elliptic, 5–11 × 0.2–0.8 cm, glabrous to pubescent,
apex attenuate or with tendrils. Flowers solitary; pedicel 3.5–9 cm
long. Perianth bright­red or yellow and red, sometimes fused for
4–5 mm at the base; leaf­blade oblanceolate, 2.5–5.5 cm × 4–8
mm. Stamens with filaments 12–23 mm long, anthers 3–7 mm long.
Pistil with style 14–25 mm long with 3­branched stigma, 1.5–2(–3)
mm long. Young fruit 15 mm long.
It grows on stony ground and open bush on red sandy soil
between 230–900 m in Harerge and Gamo Gofa floristic
regions. The species is thus only known in adjacent areas
in southern and south eastern Ethiopia, western Somalia
and northern Kenya, an area which could be referred to
as the Ethio­Somalia­Kenya triangle and which harbour
a number of endemics. The main flowering periods in
Ethiopia is from October to November, also from March
to May.
2. LITTONIA Hook.
The genus includes climbing geophytes with a small
tuber bearing short spreading lobes. The stems are
usually simple, scandent or erect. The leaves are cauline,
verticillate below, alternate above, linear to ovate,
attenuated into a ponted apex or recurved tendril. The
flowers are axillary in a cymose inflorescence on the
upper part of the stem, on long pedicels. The perianth
segments are equal, persistent, ascending and slightly
saccate at the base. The stamens are short and filiform.
The style is also short with 3­falcate stigmatic branches.
It is closely related to, or may possibly be congeneric
with, the genus Gloriosa, in general habit and in having
leaves ending in tendrils. However, in Gloriosa the style
is sharply bent, while it is straight in Littonia.
The genus consists of c. 8 species, occurring mainly
in Africa and extending to Arabia. Of these, only one
species is known to occur in Ethiopia.