Compilation
Acidanthera bicolor

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Name

Identification
Acidanthera bicolor Hochst. [family IRIDACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Not on sheet, Gladiolus murielae Kelway [family IRIDACEAE ] Verified by Not on sheet,
Related name
  • Acidanthera sp.
  • Gladiolus murielae
  • Acidanthera bicolor

Flora

Entry for GLADIOLUS murielae Kelway [family IRIDACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of Tropical East Africa, page 1, (1996) Author: Peter Goldblatt
Names
GLADIOLUS murielae Kelway [family IRIDACEAE], in Gard. Chron., ser. 3., 92: 107 (1932); Goldblatt, Gladiolus Trop. Afr.: 295 (1996). Type: description of plant exhibited at R.H.S., original collection in Ethiopia, near Gore, by Erskine
Acidanthera bicolor Hochst. [family IRIDACEAE], in Flora 27: 25 (1844); Bouché & Wittmack, Monatschr. Ver. Beförd. Gartenb. Berlin 19: t. 1 (1876); Baker in F.T.A. 7: 358 (1898), non G. bicolor Baker (1878). Type: Ethiopia, Shoa, Schimper (no type material has been located, possibly destroyed)
Ixia quartiniana A. Rich. [family IRIDACEAE], Tent. Fl. Abyss. 2: 310 (1851), non G. quartinianus A. Rich. Lectotype, chosen by Goldblatt (1996): Ethiopia, fields near Adua [Adoa], Quartin-Dillon (P (Herb. Richard), lecto.!)
sphaerospora gigantea Klatt [family ], in Linnaea 34: 699 (1866), nom. superfl. Based on Ixia quartiniana
Acidanthera murielae Hoog [family IRIDACEAE], in Gard. Chron., ser. 3, 119: 3 (1946), nom. non rite publ.
Gladiolus callianthus Marais [family IRIDACEAE], in K.B. 28: 311-317 (1973); Goldblatt in F.Z. 12(4): 101 (1993). Type as for Acidanthera bicolor
Information
Plants 30-65 cm. high. Corm 1.5-2.2 cm. in diameter, tunics firm to softly membranous, fragmenting irregularly, sometimes becoming subfibrous, dark red-brown. Leaves 4-8, the lower 3-5 basal, narrowly lanceolate, reaching at least to the base of the spike, sometimes slightly exceeding it, 5-12 mm. at the widest, relatively soft-textured and without thickened margins or midrib. Stem erect or inclined, unbranched, 3-4 mm. in diameter at the base of the spike. spike often inclined, 3-5-flowered; bracts green, the outer 5-8(-10) cm. long, the inner shorter than and concealed by the outer. Flowers white, with a prominent dark purple streak in the midline of the lower 3 or all of the tepals, sweetly scented, more strongly in the evenings; perianth-tube cylindric and straight, slightly wider near the throat, (9-)12-15 cm. long; tepals ± equal, lanceolate, 3.5-4.5 cm. long, 1.7-2.2 cm. wide. Filaments exserted 1-1.5 cm.; anthers ± 1.5 cm. long, with a rigid filiform apiculus 2-4 mm. long. Style arching over the stamens, dividing beyond the anthers, the branches ± 5 mm. long, much expanded in the upper half. Capsules oblong-ellipsoid, 2-2.5 cm. long.
Range
DISTR. T 7, 8;
Altitude range
1400-2000 m.
Distribution
TANZANIA Iringa District Mufindi, Kigogo Forest Reserve near old forest station, 2 Mar. 1987, Keeley !;TANZANIA Songea District Matagoro Hill just S. of Songea, 3 Feb. 1956, Milne-Redhead & Taylor 8473!
Distribution (external)
Ethiopia
Burundi
Malawi
Mozambique
Notes
Better known as G. callianthus or Acidanthera bicolor, this SPECIES is occasionally grown in gardens and is available in the nursery trade. The perianth-tube 12-15 cm. long and white perianth, often with dark purple splashes on the lower tepals, make the SPECIES unmistakable in East Africa. G. murielae is most closely related to the West African G. aequinoctialis Herb. which has more firmly textured leaves with conspicuous primary and secondary veins, and anthers with smaller apiculate appendages, usually 2-3 mm. long.

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