Haemanthus pubescens

Haemanthus pubescens ('pubescens': Latin 'having a soft downy covering') is an endemic South African bulbous geophyte in the genus Haemanthus.

Haemanthus pubescens
Haemanthus pubescens by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin 1798.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Amaryllidaceae
Subfamily: Amaryllidoideae
Genus: Haemanthus
Species:
H. pubescens
Binomial name
Haemanthus pubescens
Distribution over South Africa
Synonyms[1]
  • Haemanthus angustifolius Salisb.
  • Haemanthus quadrivalvis Jacq.
  • Haemanthus trispathinus M.Roem.
  • Leucodesmis pubescens (L.f.) Raf.

The plant was first described by Linnaeus the Younger in 1782, 29 years after his father's description of H. coccineus. Both species are common along the West Coast and it is puzzling that H. pubescens was not collected and described much earlier. The genus Haemanthus was created in 1753 by Linnaeus. In 1838, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque placed H. pubescens in a new genus Leucodesmis, H. coccineus in Perihema, and H. carneus in Serena. The English botanist Richard Anthony Salisbury (1761-1829) in his 1866 posthumous publication 'Genera of Plants', placed H. amarylloides under Melicho and H. albiflos under Diacles.

H. pubescens occurs at elevations up to 300 m from Cape Town northwards along the coast to southern Namibia. Formerly it was known only from the south western Cape, but collections from north of the Olifants River into Namibia, led to a revision of its geographic limits. The 4-7 large, fleshy spathe valves are diagnostic of the species. The two leaves are broad, flat on the ground and usually pubescent. Bulbs are deep, with fleshy distichous tunics.

References
  1. "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  • The Genus Haemanthus: A Revision - Deidré Snijman (National Botanic Gardens of South Africa 1984) ISBN 0-620-07339-X


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