Hessea

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hessea
Hessea cinnamomea, illustration

Hessea cinnamomea , illustration

Systematics
Monocots
Order : Asparagales (Asparagales)
Family : Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae)
Subfamily : Amaryllidoideae
Tribe : Strumariinae
Genre : Hessea
Scientific name
Hessea
Herb.

The plant genus Hessea belongs to the subfamily Amaryllidoideae within the family of the Amaryllis (Amaryllidaceae). The approximately 13 species are common in southern Africa .

Description and ecology

Illustration of Hessea cinnamomea

Appearance and leaves

The Hessea species grow as perennial herbaceous plants that reach heights of 12 to 30 centimeters. They form onions as persistence organs, which have a diameter of 1 to 6 centimeters and usually do not protrude from the ground. The onions are covered by thin and fibrous or thick and felt-like onion shells (tunica). In these geophytes , the leaves are dried out during the flowering period in the dry season and fresh leaves only sprout again after the flowering period.

The mostly only two, rarely up to four only basal and two-row arranged, spreading leaves are sessile. The simple leaf blades are thread-shaped, linear or narrow-belt-shaped and have parallel veins. The leaf surfaces are hairy bald to tiny. The leaf margin is smooth.

Inflorescences and flowers

The slender, not hollow inflorescence stem is 2 to 22 centimeters long. 4 to 25 flowers are in a more or less hemispherical, dold-like inflorescence with a diameter of 2.5 to 12 centimeters . When budded, two narrow, lanceolate, membranous bracts (called spathe) envelop the inflorescence, they wither early during anthesis . The flower stalks are significantly longer than the flower envelope.

The relatively small flowers are hermaphroditic, radial symmetry and threefold. The six similarly shaped bracts are free or only fused at their base to form a tube with a length of no more than 12 millimeters. The inflorescence is plate-shaped or funnel-shaped. The free areas of the bracts are spread out in a star shape, with a smooth or curled edge. The bracts are usually pink or rarely white to lemon yellow, with or without a dark center. There are two circles with three stamens each, rarely they are different in the two circles. spread out, more or less the same, tower above the perianth. The stamens inserted in the perigone tube sometimes have a hook-shaped appendage on the inside and they are always fused together at their base to form a short to long tube. The anthers are more or less centrifix. The bisulculate pollen grains have a prickly exine . Three carpels are almost spherical one, dreikammerigen under constant ovary grown. Each ovary chamber contains up to four, rarely up to seven unitegmic ovules . The thin, straight stylus ends with a tiny three-column stigma and usually protrudes above the flower envelope.

In the flowering season in South African autumn, the large populations of Hessea species often transform the landscape into pink or white flowering areas. The pollination is carried out depending on the type of very different insects (Entomophilie). Especially the species with hook-shaped appendages are pollinated by flies, the rest by bees and other insects.

Fruits and seeds

The relatively small, almost spherical, loculicidal capsule fruits have a paper-like pericarp. The egg-shaped seeds with a diameter of about 5 mm are reddish green and fleshy. The seed coat is covered with stomata . The integument and embryo are green.

Sets of chromosomes

The basic chromosome number is x = 11, due to aneuploidy also x = 10.

Systematics and occurrence as well as endangerment

The approximately 13 Hessea species are in southern Africa : native to South Africa and Namibia. Eight species are elements of the Capensis . Hessea species occur mainly in areas with autumn or winter rain areas. They thrive in the Nama Karoo , Succulent Karoo, and the Fynbos .

Hessea cinnamomea and Hessea monticola thrive in swampy areas on the Cape Peninsula and in the Western Cape Mountains; they bloom in their thousands after bush fires .

Some species have become rare in nature through urbanization and mining .

The generic name Hessea was first published in 1837 by William Herbert in Amaryllidaceae , p. 289 . The generic name Hessea honors the German clergyman and succulent grower in Cape Town Christian Heinrich Friedrich Hesse (1772–1832). Type species is Hessea stellaris (Jacq.) Herb. A homonym is Hessea P.J.Bergius ex DFL von Schlechtendal , published in Linnaea , 252, 1, p. 1826. Synonyms of Hessea Herb. are Periphanes Salisb. and Kamiesbergia Snijman . Whether the two species of the genera Dewinterella D.Müll.-Doblies & U.Müll.-Doblies and Namaquanula D.Müll.-Doblies & U.Müll.-Doblies are incorporated into Hessea is controversial.

The genus Hessea belongs to the subtribe Strumariinae from the tribe Amaryllideae in the subfamily Amaryllidoideae within the family of Amaryllidaceae . It used to be part of the Liliaceae family.

There are about 13 Hessea - types :

  • Hessea breviflora Herb. (Syn .: Hessea bachmanniana Schinz , Hessea brachyscypha Baker , Hessea dregeana Kunth , Hessea longituba D. & U.Müll.-Doblies , Hessea zeyheri Baker , Periphanes brachyscypha (Baker) FMLeight. , Periphanes dregeana (Kunth) Periphanesight. , Ey FMLeight. , (Baker) FMLeight. ): It occurs in the North Cape and Western Cape . It is rated “Least Concern” in the Red List of Endangered Plant Species in South Africa.
  • Hessea cinnamomea (L'Hér.) T.Durand & Schinz (Syn .: Hessea crispa (Jacq.) Kunth , Periphanes cinnamomea (L'Hér.) FMLeight. ): It occurs in the fynbos only in the Western Cape on the Cape Peninsula, Riverlands and Joostenberg before. The threat increases due to habitat loss caused by urbanization and agriculture. In 2009 it was rated “Endangered” in the Red List of Endangered Plant Species in South Africa.
  • Hessea incana Snijman : This endemic ,first described in 1988, only occurs at altitudes of around 1035 meters in the vicinity of Khamiesberg in Namaqualand . The only three locations are threatened by agriculture. In 2009 it was rated "Vulnerable" in the Red List of Endangered Plant Species in South Africa.
  • Hessea mathewsii W.F.Barker (Syn .: Dewinterella mathewsii (WFBarker) D.Müll.-Doblies & U.Müll.-Doblies ): It only thrives on limestone on the west coast. It is critically endangered and if habitat loss continues, the wildlife will die out. In 2009 it was rated “Critically Endangered” on the Red List of Endangered Plant Species in South Africa.
  • Hessea monticola Snijman : It occurs in the North Cape and Western Cape. It is rated “Least Concern” in the Red List of Endangered Plant Species in South Africa.
  • Hessea pilosula D.Müll.-Doblies & U.Müll.-Doblies : It occurs in the Succulent Karoo in the North Cape only from Steinkopf to Hondeklipbaai. In 2009 it was rated “Rare” = “rare but not endangered” in the Red List of Endangered Plant Species in South Africa.
  • Hessea pulcherrima (D.Müll.-Doblies & U.Müll.-Doblies) Snijman (Syn .: Dewinterella pulcherrima (WFBarker) D.Müll.-Doblies & U.Müll.-Doblies ): It comes in the North Cape only in the Bokkeveld -Shift step forward. There it thrives in the fynbos in seasonally moist locations in heavy clay soils . In 2009 it was rated “Rare” = “rare but not endangered” in the Red List of Endangered Plant Species in South Africa.
  • Hessea pusilla Snijman : It occurs in the North Cape only over sandstone in the Bokkeveld layer.
  • Hessea speciosa Snijman : It occurs in the North Cape. It is rated “Least Concern” in the Red List of Endangered Plant Species in South Africa.
  • Hessea stellaris (Jacq.) Herb. (Syn .: Hessea cinnabarina D. & U.Müll.-Doblies , Hessea weberlingiorum D. & U.Müll.-Doblies , Periphanes stellaris (Jacq.) Salisb. ): It occurs in the North Cape and Western Cape. It is rated “Least Concern” in the Red List of Endangered Plant Species in South Africa.
  • Hessea stenosiphon (Snijman) D.Müll.-Doblies & U.Müll.-Doblies (Syn .: Kamiesbergia stenosiphon Snijman ): It occurs in Namaqualand and prefers locations above granite . It is only known from five locations, but these are inaccessible and therefore this species is rarely but not endangered.
  • Hessea tenuipedicellata Snijman : This endemic, which was first described in 1999, occurs in Namaqualandin of the Succulent Karoo only in northern Knersvlakte. It thrives in bottom pockets on granite knolls. In 2009 it was rated "Vulnerable" in the Red List of Endangered Plant Species in South Africa.
  • Hessea undosa Snijman : It occurs in the Western Cape in Gifberg and Matsikamma Mountains. It thrives in open, dry mountain fynbos, in damp locations over sandstone on table mountains at altitudes of around 600 meters. Habitat losses occurred through natural disasters. In 2009 it was rated "Vulnerable" in the Red List of Endangered Plant Species in South Africa.

use

Some species are used as ornamental plants . Growing from seeds is easy and you can expect flowers from the third season.

swell

  • John C. Manning, Peter Goldblatt, Dee Snijman: The Color Encyclopedia of Cape Bulbs , 2002, Timber Press, Portland. ISBN 0-88192-547-0 : Hessea on pp. 131-134 (sections description, occurrence and use)
  • Emily Smith, April 27, 2009: Hessea - Datasheet at Gateway to African Plants . (Section description)
  • DA Snijman: A new species, notes on subgeneric taxa, and new synonyms in Hessea (Amaryllidaceae: Amaryllideae) from South Africa. In: Novon , Volume 9, Issue 1, 1999, pp. 107-110.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-946292-10-4 , p. 460. doi : 10.3372 / epolist2016 . PDF.
  2. ↑ Hessea at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed February 10, 2012.
  3. ↑ Kulessa K. Weichhardt, T. Borner, J. Schmitz, U. Müller-Doblies, D. Müller-Doblies: Controversial taxonomy of Strumariinae (Amaryllidaceae) investigated by nuclear rDNA (ITS) sequences: 1. Hessea, Namaquanula, Kamiesbergia and Dewinterella. In: Plant Systematics and Evolution , Volume 223 (1-2), 2000, pp. 1-13.
  4. ↑ a b entry at amaryllidaceae.org . (French)
  5. ^ Hessea in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
  6. ↑ Enter Hessea in the search mask at World Checklist of Selected Plant Families from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m D. A. Snijman, JE Victor, 2004: Species list for Hessea in the Red List of South African Plants

Web links

Commons : Hessea  - collection of images, videos and audio files