Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

Key to the species
MORAEA LAPEROUSIA 231
the foliage leaves are few, sometimes solitary, lowermost
longest and inserted on the stem near the ground level.
The cauline leaves are successively smaller. The stem is
somewhat compressed and angular. The inflorescence
is either panicle­like, or a simple to branched spike or
the flowers are clustered at ground level. The flowers are
blue, purple, red, white or pink, radially or bilaterally
symmetric, tube short to long, tepals subequal or
unequal. The style is filiform, usually forking for up to
half its length, but sometimes entire or barely bifid. The
capsules are membranous to coriaceous, and more or less
globose.
The genus contains c. 40 species, widespread across
sub­Saharan Africa, from SW Cape to Nigeria and
Ethiopia. Two species are known to occur in Ethiopia.
1. Flowers blue-violet with darker nectar guides on lower tepals: perianth tube
7–10 mm long 1. L. abyssinica
- Flowers white and lacking nectar guides; perianth tube 70–160 mm long
2. L. schimperi
Lapeirousia
abyssinica
Description
1. Lapeirousia abyssinica (R. Br. ex A. Rich.)
Baker
The specific epithet ‘abyssinica’ refers to the former
name of Ethiopia, Abyssinia, where the original
collection was made. The species was previously coined
by Ro bert Brown and described later by A. Richard in
1850 as Geissorhiza abyssinica from a plant collected
from Maigigoi in the Tigray floristic region by Quartin-
Dillon and Petit. The name was transferred to the genus
Lapeirousia by Baker in 1878.
The species is clearly distinguished from L. schimperi
by the blue-violet flowers with a perianth tube that is c.
7–10 mm long.
Plant generally small, 9–15 cm high, sometimes to 35 cm, sparsely
branched. Corm 8–12 mm in diameter. Cataphylls 2, inner pale and
membranous, reaching shortly above ground, outer shor ter and
dark­brown. Leaves 3, lower 2 at least usually inserted near ground