Brunsvigia

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Brunsvigia
Brunsvigia josephinae (Villa Hanbuy, Italy).JPG
Brunsvigia josephinae
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Amaryllidaceae
Subfamily: Amaryllidoideae
Genus: Brunsvigia
Heist. [1]
Synonyms [2]

Brunsuigia Heist., alternate spelling

Brunsvigia is a genus of African flowering plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. [3] It contains about 20 species native to southeastern and southern Africa from Tanzania to the Cape Provinces of South Africa.

Contents

Description

Vegetative characteristics

Smooth foliage of Brunsvigia orientalis Brunsvigia orientalis Flipphi 3.jpg
Smooth foliage of Brunsvigia orientalis
Bristly foliage of Brunsvigia namaquana Brunsvigia namaquana (Amaryllidaceae) (26425903787).jpg
Bristly foliage of Brunsvigia namaquana

Brunsvigia are perennial, deciduous, temperate, bulbous herbal plants. Most species have subterranean bulbs but they are usually half-exposed in B. herrei and B. josephinae. Bulbs are tender, usually large (up to 20 cm diameter), winter-growing and summer-dormant, generally flowering in early autumn. Tunics are often thick and cartilaginous, typically brittle and tan-coloured, although they are brown and papery in B. josephinae and B. litoralis.

The leaves are annual; when mature, the leaves are broad and oblong to tongue-shaped. In species with small bulbs – B. radula, B. comptonii, and B. namaquana – there are just two or three leaves per plant but most other species have at least four leaves per bulb. B. josephinae has the distinction of producing as many as 20 leaves. The leaves mostly lie flat on the ground and sometimes press down so firmly that they lie vertically if the bulb is dug up. Only in B. litoralis, B. josephinae, B. grandiflora, B. undulata and B. herrei do the leaves stand clear of the ground. Although usually smooth, the upper leaf surfaces of two Namaqualand species (B. radula and B. namaquana) are covered with straw-coloured bristles and in some populations of B. striata from the southern Cape, they bear soft, scale-like hairs. In the winter rainfall region of southern Africa, the foliage is produced after the flowering heads have been shed, whereas in the summer rainfall region the vegetative and flowering stages often overlap.

Generative characteristics

Infructescences of Brunsvigia bosmaniae Brunsvigia bosmaniae22.jpg
Infructescences of Brunsvigia bosmaniae
Seeds of Brunsvigia bosmaniae Brunsvigia bosmaniae26.jpg
Seeds of Brunsvigia bosmaniae

The scape is firm, to 35 cm, deciduous and breaking at ground level in fruiting time.

The inflorescences, a few- to many-flowered umbels, are particularly conspicuous. In most species the pedicels are long, stiff, straight and radiate outwards to form an almost perfectly spherical head; they elongate and spread after blooming. However, B. litoralis, B. josephinae and B. orientalis differ in having pedicels that curve below each flower. Just three species (B. pulchra, B. marginata and B. elandsmontana) have compact, brush-like inflorescences. The flowers are zygomorphic or almost actinomorphic with short tube, segments spreading-recurved. The six tepals of each flower are free to the base or shortly fused into a tube. Radially symmetrical, trumpet-shaped flowers occur in species with compact, dense inflorescences, whereas bilaterally symmetrical flowers occur in species with open, lax heads. In B. comptonii, B. radula and B. namaquana the flowers are highly asymmetrical as all but one tepal curve upwards. Often the flowers are scented and all produce nectar. Their colour vary from ruby-red to brilliant scarlet or pale to bright pink and in some species the entire inflorescence is attractively coloured. Pink flowers are the norm, whereas red flowers are found in B. marginata, B. orientalis, B. litoralis and B. josephinae. Floral markings are often variable within species but dark veins on the tepals are characteristic for B. bosmaniae and B. gregaria. When in flower, the plants are spectacular but the flowering period is brief and restricted to summer and autumn.

Stamens clustered, arising from the perianth tube, ± declinate or erect, shortly connate at base. Stigma capitate, trilobate (three-lobed). Each locule has 3-10 superimposed ovules whose shape resembles a spinning top. Style filiform, declinate. The water-rich, non-dormant, ovoid, reddish green seeds are borne in large, dry capsules that are spindle-shaped or three-angled, obtuse or acute, transversally veined, and often heavily ribbed. Capsules are dehiscent loculicidally or breaking unevenly. Dehiscence in most species of Brunsvigia is somewhat tardy and confined to the apex of the capsule, hampered below by heavy ribs that keep the septa closed for most of their length. [4]

Cytology

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 22. [5] [6] [7]

Taxonomy

It was published by Lorenz Heister in 1755. [1] [8] [9] The type species is not designated. [2] The genus Brunsvigia was named after the House of Braunschweig [Brunswick]-Lüneburg, [8] [5] specifically honouring the Duke of Brunswick who promoted the study of plants, including the beautiful Cape species B. orientalis. The name was first used in 1753 by Lorenz Heister, a German surgeon and botanist, to describe a single bulb received in 1748 by Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff from Ryk Tulbagh at the Cape. [10]

Species

Species: [11] [12]

ImageScientific nameDistribution
Brunsvigia bosmaniae09.jpg Brunsvigia bosmaniae F.M.Leight.northwest and southwest Cape province
Brunsvigia comptonii W.F.Barkerwestern Karoo
Brunsvigia elandsmontana SnijmanWestern Cape
Brunsvigia gariepensis SnijmanCape province
Brunsvigia grandiflora S-1737.jpg Brunsvigia grandiflora Lindl.Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Free State.
Brunsvigia gregaria R.A.DyerCape province
Brunsvigia herrei Leight. ex W.F.BarkerNamibia southward into Namaqualand.
Brunsvigia josephinae 1.jpg Brunsvigia josephinae (Delile) Ker Gawl.western Cape to the western Karoo
Brunsvigia kirkii BakerTanzania to Malawi.
Brunsvigia litoralis R.A.Dyersoutheastern Cape
Brunsvigia marginata (Jacq.) W.T.Aitonwestern Cape.
Brunsvigia namaquana D.Müll.-Doblies & U.Müll.-DobliesNamaqualand.
Brunsvigia natalensis Bernard DuPont cropped & sharpened.jpg Brunsvigia natalensis BakerSouth Africa
Brunsvigia nervosa (Poir.) ined.Cape province
Brunsviga orientalis.JPG Brunsvigia orientalis (L.) Aiton ex Eckl.Western Cape.
Brunsvigia pulchra (W.F.Barker) D.Müll.-Doblies & U.Müll.-DobliesNamaqualand
Brunsvigia radula (Jacq.) W.T.AitonNamaqualand
Brunsvigia radulosa SAplants cropped & brightened.jpg Brunsvigia radulosa Herb.Eastern Cape and the Orange Free State.
Brunsvigia undulata F.M.Leight.Eastern Cape.

Ecology

Pollination

Brunsvigia is the only genus of Amaryllideae in which several species have stout, somewhat tubular, brilliant scarlet, pink, or red flowers that are adapted to bird pollination. [6]

Habitat

Brunsvigia occurs in semi-arid regions [13] in sandy, well-draining soil. [8] It occurs both in winter rainfall and summer rainfall regions. [13]

Conservation

Brunsvigia litoralis is endangered due to housing development, [14] [15] and invasive plants. [14]

Use

Horticulture

It has been used in intergeneric hybridisation with Amaryllis . Such hybrids are named × Amarygia. [16] [17]

Related Research Articles

<i>Amaryllis</i> Genus of plants

Amaryllis is the only genus in the subtribe Amaryllidinae. It is a small genus of flowering bulbs, with two species. The better known of the two, Amaryllis belladonna, is a native of the Western Cape region of South Africa, particularly the rocky southwest area between the Olifants River Valley and Knysna.

<i>Amaryllis belladonna</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae

Amaryllis belladonna, the Jersey lily, belladonna-lily, naked-lady-lily, or March lily, is a plant species native to Cape Province in South Africa but widely cultivated as an ornamental. It is reportedly naturalized in many places: Corsica, Portugal, the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands, the Scilly Isles of Great Britain, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ascension Island, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Chile, California, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Michigan and the Juan Fernández Islands.

<i>Nerine</i> Genus of flowering plants

Nerine is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. They are bulbous perennials, some evergreen, associated with rocky and arid habitats. They bear spherical umbels of lily-like flowers in shades from white through pink to crimson. In the case of deciduous species, the flowers may appear on naked stems before the leaves develop. Native to South Africa, there are about 20–30 species in the genus. Though described as lilies, they are not significantly related to the true lilies (Liliaceae), but more closely resemble their relatives, Amaryllis and Lycoris. The genus was established by the Revd. William Herbert in 1820.

<i>Brunsvigia josephinae</i> Species of flowering plant

Brunsvigia josephinae, commonly called Josephine's lily or candelabra lily, is a deciduous, subtropical species of Brunsvigia originating from South Africa. It is marked by deep pink to red flowerheads which are about 12 to 15 inches long. It flourishes in medium humidity, at temperatures between 50 and 75 °F. Flowering stems appear from the bulbs in March and April, and the leaves develop later. These bulbs can take 12 years to settle before they flower, but they flower annually once established. It is available from commercial sources.

<i>Haemanthus</i> Genus of flowering plants

Haemanthus is a Southern African genus of flowering plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. Members of the genus are known as blood lily and paintbrush lily. There are some 22 known species, native to South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini. About 15 species occur in the winter rainfall region of Namaqualand and the Western Cape, the remainder being found in the summer rainfall region, with one species Haemanthus albiflos occurring in both regions.

<i>Strumaria</i> Genus of plants

Strumaria is a genus of African plants in Amaryllis family, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. The genus is known in nature only from South Africa, Lesotho and Namibia. Almost all species flower in the autumn and are cultivated as ornamental bulbous plants.

<i>Ammocharis longifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Ammocharis longifolia is an African species of bulbous flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae. It has been placed as the only species, Cybistetes longifolia, in the monotypic genus Cybistetes.

<i>Griffinia hyacinthina</i> Species of flowering plant

Griffinia hyacinthina is a bulbous species of flowering plant which is endemic to Brazil.

<i>Moraea aristata</i> Species of plant in the family Iridaceae

Moraea aristata is a species of flowering plant in the family Iridaceae. It is referred to by the common names blue-eyed uintjie or Blouooguintjie in Afrikaans.It is endemic to the city of Cape Town and is considered to be critically endangered.

<i>Boophone disticha</i> Species of flowering plant

Boophone disticha is a bulbous tropical and subtropical flowering plant, endemic to Africa. Commonly called the century plant or tumbleweed, Boophone disticha was first collected in 1781 from South Africa by Swedish botanist Carl Peter Thunberg and described by Carl Linnaeus as Amaryllis disticha. Since that time it has been placed in the genera Brunsvigia and Haemanthus, finally coming to rest as Boophone. The genus name itself was spelled in three different ways by the author William Herbert, straining the procedures of the rules of nomenclature. The etymology of the genus is from the Greek bous = ox, and phontes= killer of, a clear warning that eating the plant can be fatal to livestock.

<i>Nerine masoniorum</i> Species of flowering plant

Nerine masoniorum is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae, native to the eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is a bulbous perennial belonging to the group of nerines that have narrow evergreen foliage. The thread-like leaves reach a length of 25 cm or more. The flowering stem is 15–25 cm tall, with up to 11 flowers arranged in an umbel. Each flower has six narrow pink tepals with wavy edges. It flowers in late summer in cultivation, the first of the nerines to do so. It has received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

<i>Brunsvigia bosmaniae</i> Species of flowering plant

Brunsvigia bosmaniae is a South African geophyte flowering plant belonging to the family Amaryllidaceae, and occurring along the dry west coast of the Cape Province. It is known for its profuse pink flowers, which usually occur in March, a few weeks after late summer rains.

<i>Rauhia</i> Species of plant

Rauhia is a genus of bulbous, perennial plants in the family Amaryllidaceae endemic to Peru.

The Asparagales are an order of plants, and on this page the structure of the order is used according to the APG III system. The order takes its name from the family Asparagaceae and is placed in the monocots. The order is clearly circumscribed on the basis of DNA sequence analysis, but is difficult to define morphologically, since its members are structurally diverse. The APG III system is used in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families from the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. With this circumscription, the order consists of 14 families with approximately 1120 genera and 26000 species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eustephieae</span> Tribe of flowering plants

Eustephieae is a flowering plant tribe in the family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. It forms part of the Andean clade, one of two clades in The Americas.

<i>Drimia elata</i> Species of flowering plant

Drimia elata is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. It is widely distributed in eastern and southern Africa.

<i>Cyrtanthus ventricosus</i> Species of flowering plant


Cyrtanthus ventricosus, commonly called fire lily, is a small deciduous, bulbous plant reaching a height of 100–250 mm (3.9–9.8 in). It is in the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae, and is found along the Cape Fold Mountains from the Cape Peninsula, Western Cape, to the Kouga Mountains, Eastern Cape in South Africa.

<i>Stenomesson leucanthum</i> Species of plant

Stenomesson leucanthum is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae. It is native to Peru. Pierfelice Ravenna, the Chilean botanists who first formally described the species, using the basionym Pucara leucantha, named it after its white flowers.

<i>Strumaria discifera</i> Species of flowering plant

Strumaria discifera is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae, native to west and south-west Cape Provinces. It was first described in 1992.

Strumaria massoniella is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae, native to the Cape Provinces of South Africa. It was first described in 1985 as Gemmaria massoniella. Its bulb is solitary. Like other members of the genus Strumaria it has star-shaped flowers. In the Northern Cape Province, it is found in sandy plains at an elevation of about 1,000 m (3,300 ft).

References

  1. 1 2 Heister, L. (1755). Beschreibung eines neuen Geschlechts von einer sehr raren und überaus schönen afrikanischen Pflanze aus der Familie der Zwiebelgewächse, welche er zu Ehren und immerwährenden Andenken des durchlauchtigsten Fürsten und Herrn, Herrn Karls, ist regierenden Herzogs zu Braunschweig und Lüneburg des mildreichesten Beförderers aller und besonders auch der Kräuterwissenschaft den Namen Brunsuigia beygeleget wobey zugleich viele Irrthümer einiger Kräuterkenner angezeiget und verbessert werden, nebst drey großen Kupferplatten worauf obige Pflanze mit lebendigen Farben nach dem Leben dargestellet wird. Gedruckt im großen Waysenhause.
  2. 1 2 Missouri Botanical Garden. (n.d.). Brunsvigia Heist. Tropicos. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://www.tropicos.org/name/40032345
  3. ↑ Stevens, P.F., Angiosperm Phylogeny Website: Asparagales: Amaryllidoideae
  4. ↑ Snijman, Deirdre A. (2012), "A revision of the Brunsvigia radula-group (Amaryllidaceae: Amaryllideae) of species in South Africa, including the description of Brunsvigia gariepensis a new species from Bushmanland in Northern Cape", South African Journal of Botany, 79: 106–116, doi: 10.1016/j.sajb.2011.12.005
  5. 1 2 Van Jaarsveld, Ernst (2020), "Brunsvigia AMARYLLIDACEAE", in Eggli, U.; Nyffeler, R. (eds.), Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Monocotyledons, Springer-Verlag GmbH, pp. 433–434, doi:10.1007/978-3-662-56486-8_37, ISBN   978-3-662-56484-4
  6. 1 2 Meerow, Alan W.; Snijman, Deirdre A. (1998), "Amaryllidaceae", in Kubitzki, Klaus (ed.), The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants, vol. III, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH, pp. 83–110, doi:10.1007/978-3-662-03533-7, ISBN   978-3-642-08377-8, S2CID   30159571
  7. ↑ Deirdre "Dee" Snijman, Plants of South Africa, South Africa National Biodiversity Institute, April 2005
  8. 1 2 3 Meier, U. (2006, March 3). Die Brunsvigia - die Pflanze Braunschweigs - Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte unserer Stadt. Braunschweig Spiegel. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from http://archiv.braunschweig-spiegel.de/index.php/kultur/146-brunsvigia-die-pflanze-braunschweigs
  9. ↑ Brunsvigia Heist. (n.d.). International Plant Names Index. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://www.ipni.org/n/1371-1
  10. ↑ "Flowers of Southern Africa" - Auriol Batten (Southern, 1988)
  11. ↑ Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  12. ↑ Sanbi Red List of South African Plants, Species search: Brunsvigia
  13. 1 2 Brunsvigia. (n.d.). Pacific Bulb Society. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/brunsvigia
  14. 1 2 McMaster, C. (2007). The spectacular Brunsvigias. Farmer’s Weekly, 24–25.
  15. ↑ South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). (n.d.). Brunsvigia Heist. PlantZAfrica. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://pza.sanbi.org/brunsvigia
  16. ↑ × Amarygia Cif. & Giacom. (n.d.). International Plant Names Index. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://www.ipni.org/n/1335-1
  17. ↑ ×Amarygia. (n.d.). Pacific Bulb Society. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/XAmarygia

Bibliography

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