Massonia
Massonia depressa
Massonia is a plant genus of the family of asparagus plants ( Asparagaceae ). It includes about ten species from the dry southern Africa.
Description and ecology
Massonia species grow as perennial herbaceous plants. These geophytes form as outlasting onions that have a tunic. Do you make per season from two broad, fleshy, alternate leaves that lie flat on the substrate. Almost shaftless inflorescences with numerous individual flowers appear between the leaves. The roundish seeds are black.
Massonia - species bloom in our winter and attract summer a large extent. The pollination of Massonia depressa occurs at night by rodents.
Distribution and habitat requirements
Massonia species occur in the arid regions of Southern Africa. Four types are elements of the Flore capensis. According to the climatic conditions they are adapted to drought in the southern hemisphere winter and low moisture in the southern hemisphere summer and fall. They grow in sandy soil.
System
The genus Massonia in 1780 by Carl Peter Thunberg in Maarten Houttuyn: placed Natuurlijke history ..., Volume 12, Part 2, p 424. Type species is Massonia depressa Houtt .. The generic name honors Massonia Francis Masson, the plants collected at the same time Carl Peter Thunberg in South Africa.
The species of the genus Whiteheadia were incorporated into the genus Massonia 2004.
The genus belongs to the subtribe Massonia Massoniinae from the tribe Hyacintheae in the subfamily Scilloideae within the family Asparagaceae. It was formerly classified in the family Liliaceae or Hyacinthaceae.
The genus Massonia include the following types:
- Massonia bifolia ( Jacq. ) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt
- Massonia depressa Houtt.
- Massonia echinata L. F.
- Massonia etesionamibensis ( U.Müll. - Doblies & D.Müll. - Doblies ) JCManning & Goldblatt
- Massonia hirsuta Link & Otto
- Massonia jasminiflora Burch. ex Baker
- Massonia pustulata Jacq.
- Massonia pygmaea Schltdl. ex Kunth Massonia pygmaea subsp. pygmaea
- Massonia pygmaea subsp. kamiesbergensis U.Müll. - Doblies & D.Müll. - Doblies
Use
Few Massonia species are ornamental plants for pot culture in the cold greenhouse.