Geissorhiza elsiae
| Geissorhiza elsiae | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Geissorhiza elsiae | ||||||||||||
| Gold leaf |
Geissorhiza elsiae is a plant from the family of the Iridaceae (Iridaceae).
description
They are 14 to 25 centimeters high, perennial, herbaceous plants . The brown tuber is rounded, flattened on one side, has a diameter of 7 to 10 millimeters and is completely concentric in several layers.
The lower leaf is membranous and pale. The three to five mostly upright leaves are 3 to 6 (rarely 2) millimeters wide, sickle-shaped and half to a third as long as the stems . The lowest three leaves are down to earth, sword-shaped to linear, the upper ones are smaller and attach to the stem, the uppermost sometimes resemble bracts .
The stem is erect, simple or branched, in the latter case from the upper one or two nodes of the stem. The inflorescence is a two- to four-flowered spike, the bracts are 12 to 14 millimeters long (the inner shorter than the outer) and are reddish on the upper part and along the veins . The six-fold flowers are star-shaped, purple with dark markings on the lower center line of the bracts .
The flower tube is 6 to 10 millimeters long and cylindrical, the bracts are 15 to 20 millimeters long, 7 to 8 millimeters wide and, conversely, egg-shaped. The stamens are 6 to 11 millimeters long, the anthers 5 to 6 millimeters, the pollen yellow. The ovary is 2 to 3 millimeters long, the stylus is divided at the level of the top of the dust bag, the individual branches are 3 millimeters in length and bent back.
The capsule is egg-shaped and reaches a length of 7 to 9 millimeters.
Flowering time is October to November.
distribution
Geissorhiza elsiae is found in South Africa in cool and humid locations on the southern slopes of the Kammanassie Mountains in the Little Karoo .
Systematics
Geissorhiza elsiae belongs to the Weihea section in the Weihea subgenus . It has only been collected three times so far.
proof
- Peter Goldblatt: Systematics of the Southern African Genus Geissorhiza (Iridacea-Ixioideae). In: Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Vol. 72, No. 2, 1985, pp. 277-447