Ledebouria ovatifolia (Ledebouria ovatifolia)
Description
Ledebouria is a genus of deciduous or weakly evergreen bulbs in the Hyacinthaceae family. The genus is now regarded as distinct from Scilla which is a genus of the Northern Hemisphere. There are sixty plus species in sub-Saharan Africa, with one or two species each in India and Madagascar. It is found mostly in areas of summer rainfall (there are a few winter rainfall species) in subtropical savannas and grasslands in the eastern and northeastern parts of southern Africa. The greatest species diversity occurs in the eastern and central parts of the Limpopo Province and Mpumalanga. Species have 1 to 20 leaves that are partly or fully developed at flowering and are erect, spreading or depressed, sometimes spirally twisted, linear to suborbicular, fleshy or leathery, smooth to hairy, green to purple with or without darker green or purple markings. Ledebouria was the subject of the PBS list topic of the week May 2004. Rhoda McMaster provided the introduction for the discussion. There continues to be discussion about separation of the genera Drimiopsis and Resnova and the same plants are often grown under different names.
Taxonomic tree
-
Domain: Eukarya
-
-
Kingdom: Plantae
-
-
Phylum:
-
-
Class: Liliopsida
-
-
Order: Asparagales
-
-
Family: Asparagaceae
-
-
Genus: Ledebouria
-
-
-
-
-
-
