Compilation
Kniphofia multiflora

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Name

Identification
Kniphofia multiflora J.M.Wood & M.S.Evans [family ASPHODELACEAE ]
Related name
  • Kniphofia multiflora

Flora

Entry for Kniphofia multiflora [family ALOACEAE]
Herbarium
South African National Biodiversity Institute, Compton Herbarium, Cape Town (SAM)
Collection
Flora of Southern Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of South Africa, (2003) Author: Dr J.P. Roux
Names
Kniphofia multiflora [family ALOACEAE]
Information
Plants robust, usually many-stemmed. Leaves ascending, later bending over ± middle, 0.8-1.8 m long, 20-4-0 mm broad, deeply keeled, mid-green; margin and keel serrulate. Scape overtop­ping reflexed leaves, 0.8-2.0 m tall. Raceme slen­der, elongate, tapering gradually towards apex, 300-800 mm long; buds and flowers ascending; buds greenish white to orange-yellow tipped with red, becoming whitish to yellow as flowers open. Bracts oblong-spathulate, 3.5-5.5 mm long, acute to rounded at apex; margin minutely eroso-dentic-ulate. Pedicels 1.5^4.0 mm long at flowering stage, elongating up to 4-5 mm in fruit. Perianth shortly subcylindrical, 7-12 mm long; lobes ovate, 1.5 mm long. Anthers shortly exserted. Fruit ovoid-triquetrous, 5-6 mm long. Flowering time: February to April. Figure 1.
Habitat
Readily distinguished from other South Afri­can species by the exceptionally long, narrow raceme. There are two colour forms, separated geographically. In the south, from Van Reenen to Wakkerstroom, the typical form occurs with greenish white buds and whitish to cream-coloured flowers. From the Carolina and Barberton Districts northwards, the buds are orange-yellow, often tinged with red, and the flowers on opening are pale to deep yellow.
Use
1. Kniphofia multiflora J.M.Wood & M.S.Evans in Journal of Botany, British and Foreign 35: 353 (1897); J.M.Wood: t. 206 (1900) J.M.Wood: 56 (1901); Hook.f.: t. 7832 (1902) A.Berger: 44 (1908); Codd: 1.1445 (1965a); Codd 400 (1968); A.Fabian & Germish.: 42, t. 13c (1997) Retief & P.P.J.Herman: 101 (1997). Type: Natal [KwaZulu-Natal], between Van Reenen and Nelson's Kop, J.M.Wood 5972 (NH, nolo.!; K!).
Range
Distributed along the Drakensberg escarp­ment from Van Reenen and Harrismith in the south to northern KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland and Mpumalanga, reaching its northernmost limit on the Soutpansberg in Limpopo. It grows in mountain marshes, vleis and on streambanks, usually at altitudes of 1 300 to 2 000 m, but in Mpumalanga, it is found in vleis east of the escarpment as low as 800 m. Map 1.

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