Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

272 ERIOSPERMACEAE
Key to the species
1. Lower pedicel longer than 5 cm; leaf produced after flowering,
leaf blade rigid with prominent nerves 1. E. abyssinicum
- Lower pedicel shorter than 3 cm; leaves produced at the same time
as the flowers, leaf blade flexible with inconspicuous nerves 2. E. triphyllum
Eriospermum
abyssinicum
Description
Habitat and
distribution
Fig. 118.
Eriospermum
abyssinicum,
from Tanzania.
1. Eriospermum abyssinicum Baker
As the species epithet indicates the species was first
described from Abyssinia, sur prisingly as it is very rare
and so far only recorded from Gonder, where Schwein ­
furth collected it in the 1870s. The single stiffly erect leaf
makes it easy to identify even in sterile condition.
Tuber (sub)globose, 2–4.5 cm in diameter, crow ned with copious
fibers. Leaf solitary, erect, lanceolate with a distinctly channelled
petiole and with prominent nerves, 11–20 × 1–3.5 cm. Peduncle
8–19 cm long, pedicels ascending. Tepals yellowish, 5–10 × 1–2.5
mm. Capsules with three rooms, 6–9 × 6–7 mm. Seeds 4 × 2.5 mm
covered with 5–7 mm long hairs.
The species grows on rocky outcrops and open dry
grassland. It flowers with the first rains and leaves are
developed later. So far it is only known from Gonder
floristic region in Ethiopia, close to the Sudan border. It
is otherwise widely distributed in Africa west to the Ivory
Coast and south to South Africa. The main flowering
period in Ethiopia is in May.