Hesperantha coccinea

Hesperantha coccinea varieties as an ornamental plant

The Red Swamp gap stylus ( Hesperantha coccinea), also Sumpfgladiole, Wassergladiole, kaffir lily, gap pen or stylus swamp gap called, is a species of the genus Hesperantha within the family of Iris Family ( Iridaceae ). The genus name Hesperantha is derived from the ancient Greek words ἑσπέρα Hespera for " evening " and ἄνθος anthos for " flower " or " flower " from, or " night flower" because the flowers open in many Hesperantha types of evening ( does not apply in this type to ); the epithet coccinea means scarlet.

Description

The Red Swamp pen gap grows as a deciduous, perennial, herbaceous plant. The only way this Hesperantha - Geophyt does not form tubers, but a rhizome than Überdauerungsorgan, it is a marsh plant. Notably, while plants of some populations in the axils of the upper leaves small nodules in typical Hesperantha asymmetric shape. It is one of the major species within the genus, reaching heights of growth of about 60 cm.

The leaves grow in accordance with the rainy season of the home range in summer. The undergraduate, upright to spreading deciduous leaves are simple, flat, parallel-veined, about 40 cm long and 1 cm wide. The leaf margin is smooth.

The terminal, aged men inflorescences are slender. There are bracts present. The structure of the flowers is similar to other types of Hesperantha, only the color of the bloom differs. The flowers are hermaphroditic, ternate, and usually radial symmetry to slightly zygomorphic. There are two circles, each with three usually 30 to 35 mm long bloom cladding available that are almost the same shape in both circuits. The bloom are fused into a long tube. The free area of the bloom is star-shaped spread. The bloom are white to cream to yellow and from red to pink and purple to blue, sometimes with darker drawings. It's just a circle with three fertile stamens present. Three carpels are fused into one inferior ovary. The stylus is divided above the Blütenhüllblattröhre in three long branches. This Hesperantha Type is not night bloomer, its flowers have no scent. In the southern hemisphere it flowers mainly from March to April, sometimes, with only a few inflorescences in February.

The dreifächerigen capsule fruits contain many seeds. The atypical for Hesperantha types of seeds are 2 × 1.2 mm in size and prismatic, but the edges poorly trained. The loose seed coat is translucent light brown with a smooth outline. In the seed coat, a more or less spherical core is of a diameter of about 1 mm. The shape of the seed floats for a while, until it reaches the water surface. It is adapted to a water spread.

There are two color forms: the widespread red form, whose range extends from the Amatola Mountains in South Africa's Eastern Cape to Zimbabwe, and a pink form, which occurs in the Gauteng province only in the northern Drakensberg and Witwatersrand. Unusually for Hesperantha species, the red form of some large butterfly species of the families Papilionidae ( Papilio sp. ) And Nymphalidae is pollinated ( Aero Petes tulbaghia ).

Occurrence

The Red Swamp gap stylus is native only in sub-Saharan Africa. Their range extends from the tropical Africa to the summer rain areas in the eastern capensis.

Through rich seed production and good seed results they tend to naturalizing and are classified as invasive in some areas. The plants thrive in permanently wet or at least damp habitats, such as river banks and swamps. This type does not form tubers because these xeromorphe property is not used under humid conditions. It forms instead of rhizomes.

System

Hesperantha coccinea belongs to the richest section of the genus Concentrica Hesperantha in the tribe Croceae ( Syn: Ixieae ) in the subfamily Crocoideae the family of Iris Family ( Iridaceae ). The first publication of this kind took place in 1864 under the name Schizostylis coccinea by James Backhouse & William Henry Harvey in Curtis's Botanical Magazine. 90, Pl 5422; this name is now just a synonym. Schizostylis Backh. & Harv. was a monotypic genus ( Schizostylis translates gap stylus ). In Reduction of Schizostylis ( Iridaceae: Ixioideae ) in Hesperantha. presented in Novon, Volume 6, No. 3, 1996 Peter Goldblatt & John C. Manning Schizostylis coccinea as Hesperantha coccinea ( Backh. & Harv ) Goldblatt & JC Manning in the genus Hesperantha; a genus Schizostylis could not be maintained.

Use

Some varieties of the Red Swamp gap pen as Schizostylis coccoinea be planted as ornamental plants in gardens, mostly in ponds (up to 10 cm water depth) and used as a cut flower. The flowers are white through pink to red. In Central Europe it is not hardy, it will be overwintered as a container plant in a cool room or well covered with foliage.

Pictures

Flowers of some Hesperantha coccinea varieties:

'Alba'

' Sunrise'

' Professor Barnard'

' Maidens Blush'

' Fenland Daybreak '

Swell

• Cheers Gordon (ed.): Botanica. The ABC's of plants. 10,000 species in text and image. Könemann Publishing Company, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-8331-1600-5, p 829
• Peter Goldblatt: A synoptic review of the African genus Hesperantha ( Iridaceae: Crocoideae ). In: Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Vol 90, 2003, ISSN 0026-6493, pp. 390-443 ( online (PDF, 487 KB )) ( H. coccinea description as type 56, p 431).
• Peter Goldblatt, John C. Manning: The Iris Family. Natural History & Classification. Timber Press, Portland, OR, inter alia, 2008, ISBN 978-0-88192-897-6.
• Peter Goldblatt, Ingrid Nänni, Peter Bernhardt, John C. Manning: Floral Biology Of Hesperantha ( Iridaceae: Crocoideae ): How Minor shifts in Floral Presentation Change The Pollination system. In: Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Vol 91, 2004, pp. 186-206 ( online (PDF, 236 KB) ).
• Hesperantha coccinea at: plantzafrica.
• John C. Manning, Peter Goldblatt, Dee Snijman: The color encyclopedia of Cape bulbs. Timber Press, Portland, OR 2002, ISBN 0-88192-547-0.