White Strelitzia
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White Strelitzia ( Strelitzia alba ) |
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| Strelitzia alba | ||||||||||||
| ( Lf ) Skeels |
The white Strelitzia ( Strelitzia alba ) is a species of Strelitzia ( Strelitzia ) in the Strelitziaceae family . This South African species is rarely used as an ornamental plant in tropical parks and large gardens .
description
Appearance and leaves
Strelitzia alba grows in the shape of a tree as an evergreen, perennial , herbaceous plant that can reach heights of up to 10 meters. With its branched rhizomes it forms dense, clump-like stands. The unbranched, somewhat woody trunk is marked by the leaf scars. The leaves, which are distributed in a spiral on the trunk and only form a kind of crown in the upper area of old plants, are clearly divided into long petioles and leaf blades. Their simple, smooth-edged, elongated, roughly leathery, shiny green to grayish leaf blades have a length of up to 2 meters and a width of 40 to 60 centimeters. The leaf blades tear in the course of time in the wind. Overall, they have a vegetative effect like banana plants.
Inflorescences and flowers
Strelitzia alba flowers all year round, with a main flowering period in autumn and winter from May to July. There is a lateral, upright inflorescence stem. As with Strelitzia caudata, there is a single inflorescence (in contrast to Strelitzia nicolai in which there are several partial inflorescences ). A horizontal or pointing slightly upwards, conspicuous, large, dark, blue-green frosted, boat-shaped bract (the so-called spathe) is 25 to 30 cm long, 6 to 8 cm high and about 4.5 cm thick. It contains an average of five flowers.
The hermaphrodite flowers are zygomorphic and threefold. The three bracts are very different in shape and color in the two circles. Of the three white, 16 to 18 cm long and 3 to 3.5 cm wide bracts of the outer circle (often called sepals = sepals) the middle one is smaller than the lateral ones. Of the inner three always white (with Strelitzia nicolai they are mostly blue, very rarely white) bloom cladding leaves (often called pepals = petals), the lanceolate upper one, with a length of about 3.5 cm and a width of about 1 cm, covers the Entrance to the "nectar chamber"; the two large lateral ones are fused like an arrow (a total of 4 to 4.5 cm long and 1 to 1.25 cm wide) and surround the stylus and the five fertile stamens . The stamens are 3 cm long and the anthers are 5 to 5.5 cm long. The abundant nectar produced attracts nectar birds (Nectariniidae) such as Cinnyris afer and Cinnyris chalybeus . Pollination is done by birds.
Fruits and seeds
Woody, triple capsule fruits are formed, which open from their tip. The black to brown, spherical seeds have a yellowish, woolly aril . Fruits can be present all year round, but they most often ripen in summer between October and February.
Chromosome set
Strelitzia alba is the only one with a chromosome set of 2n = 22 that differs from the other Strelitzia species (2n = 14) .
Occurrence and endangerment
Strelitzia alba occurs in South Africa from the Knysna District in the Western Cape Province to the Humansdorp District in the Eastern Cape Province. Of course, it only thrives in evergreen forests near the east coast (along the Garden Route ). Today it can only be found in sheltered gorges and on slopes along rivers .
Strelitzia alba is designated as Least Concern in the Red List of South African Plants. Phakamani Xaba of Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens has visited the wild populations several times and came to a different view of the endangered status. It has been observed that foragers have removed many of the side shoots required for vegetative reproduction , there are no young plants or seedlings in the populations, and the seeds are always harvested before they reach the ground.
Systematics
This species was in 1782 under the name Heliconia alba by Carl Linnaeus the Younger in Supplementum Plantarum , p 157 first published . Carl Peter Thunberg put this species in 1792 in Nova Genera Plantarum , p. 113 under the name Strelitzia augusta in the genus Strelitzia . Homer Collar Skeels gave her the name Strelitzia alba in 1912 in the US Department of Agriculture Bureau of Plant Industry Bulletin , 248, p. 57. The specific epithet alba comes from Latin, means white and refers to the flower.
In 1970 Moore & Hyypio discussed the nomenclature within the genus Strelitzia . Another synonyms for Strelitzia alba Regel & Körn. is Strelitzia angusta D.Dietr.
swell
- Phakamani Xaba: Strelitzia alba at plantzafrica.com of the Kirstenbosh Botanical Garden. (Section Description and Distribution)
- Hamish Robertson: Strelitzia alba at biodiversityexplorer - Iziko - Museums of Cape Town. (Section Description and Distribution)
- Harold E. Moore, Jr. & Peter A. Hyypio: Some Comments on Strelitzia (Strelitziaceae) , in Baileya , 17, 1970, pp. 65-75.
Individual evidence
- ↑ First publication scanned at biodiversitylibrary.org.
- ^ TH Arnold & BC De Wet (editors): Plants of southern Africa: names and distribution. , in Mem. Bot. Surv. S. Africa , No. 62, 1993.
- ↑ G. Germishuizen & NL Meyer (editor): Plants of southern Africa: an annotated checklist , In: Strelitzia , 14, 2003.
