Christmas bell
| Christmas bell | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Christmas bell, illustration |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Blandfordia punicea | ||||||||||||
| ( Labill. ) Sweet |
The Christmas bell ( Blandfordia punicea ) (engl. Christmas Bell) is one of four species of the genus Blandfordia , the only genus of the family of Blandfordiaceae within the order of the asparagus-like (Asparagales). It comes from Tasmania and thrives on nutrient-poor sandy soils and acidic bog soils.
Plant description
The Christmas bell is a perennial, herbaceous plant with an underground rhizome and long, grass-like narrow leaves .
In a loose, racemose inflorescence, there are up to 20 individual flowers, each hanging on a short peduncle. The bright red (Latin puniceus "pomegranate"), pendent, bell-shaped flowers lined with yellow at the end are about 3 cm long. The six strongly tubular fused, identical bloom cladding sheets ( tepals ) end in short corolla lobes.
As the name suggests, it blooms around Christmas time and can occur in large numbers, so that the ground is far covered by its red flowers. The pollination is done by nectar-seeking birds. It forms capsule fruits .
Systematics
This species was first described in 1805 as Aletris punicea by Jacques Julien Houtou de Labillardière in Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen , 1 (11), p. 85, plate 111. It was placed in the genus Blandfordia in 1830 as Blandfordia punicea by Robert Sweet in Sweet's Hortus Britannicus , 2nd edition, p. 517. Other synonyms are: Blandfordia grandiflora var. Marginata (Herb.) Hook.f. , Blandfordia grandiflora var. Backhousii Hook.f. orth. var., Blandfordia marginata Herb. , Blandfordia backhousii Lindl. orth. var., nom. inval.
Name declaration
The generic name Blandfordia honors the English nobleman George Spencer-Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough , Marquess of Blandford (born as George Spencer, George Spencer-Churchill from 1817) (1766 - 1840).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Entry in Australian Plant Name Index (APNI).
- ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names . Extended Edition. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2018. [1]
