Hesperaloe tenuifolia
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Hesperaloe tenuifolia (English common name "Tropical Hesperaloe") is a species of the genus Hesperaloe in the agave family . The epithet of the species means "thin-leaved".
description
Hesperaloe tenuifolia has no trunk and forms open, small, up to 50 cm wide clumps. The variable, curved, linear leaves are 50 to 100 cm long. 5 to 10 mm wide at the base, tapering to a point. At the leaf margins there are flexible, fine, white marginal fibers.
The branched inflorescence becomes 1.5 to 2 m long. The dark pink to red night-blooming wheel-shaped flowers are 30 mm long and 25 mm wide. The species blooms like Hesperaloe nocturna at night. The flowers hardly open. The flowering period is from April to May.
The woody capsules, egg-shaped when ripe, are 20 to 30 mm long and up to 25 mm wide. The textured black seeds are up to 10 mm long, 5 to 7 mm wide and 1 mm thick. The seeds mature from June to July, depending on the flowering time.
The thin, long leaves with the fine edge fibers are characteristic. It is represented in collections in the USA, but unknown in Europe.
Distribution and systematics
Hesperaloe tenuifolia is located in a limited area northeast of Álamos in Mexico in the state of Sonora at an altitude of 1500 m. It is only known from the type location. The species grows on sloping hills together with Dasylirion species.
The valid description by Gregory Dirk Starr under the name Hesperaloe tenuifolia was published in 1997.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Madroño . Vol. 44, No. 3, 1997, pp. 293-294
literature
- Fritz Hochstätter: The genus Hesperaloe (Agavaceae) . In: CactusWorld . Volume 27, No. 2, pp. 105-106, 2009