| Synonyms: |
Ferraria hirschbergii L.Bolus Moraea aurantiaca Baker Moraea viscosa R.C.Foster |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | Occasional |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Plants (12)18-35 cm high . Stem exposed above sheaths of lower leaves; upper nodes and distal parts of internodes sticky, often with sand adhering . Leaves of flowering plants sheathing, occasionally with short blades shorter than sheaths; of vegetative plants (1)2, narrowly sword-shaped, straight or falcate, 1.5-3 mm wide, with visible main vein . Rhipidia 4- or 5-flowered; inner spathe 20-34 mm long, outer entirely sheathing, mostly half to two thirds as long as inner, 10-17 mm . Flowers on pedicels ± as long as spathes, lasting a single day, pale to dull yellow to buff (?also orange) with brown to dark red or dull green spots on limbs and distal part of claws, evidently odourless, tepals ascending, claws forming a cup, 7-9 mm deep, c. 7 mm wide at rim, limbs spreading to reflexed up to 40 degrees, margins crisped; nectaries dark brown, c. 1.5 × 2 mm, roughly in centre of claws; outer tepals 15-20 × c. 5 mm, inner 14-20 mm long. Stamens with filaments united in a column 5-7.5 mm long, free in upper 1-1.5 mm; anther thecae parallel or diverging basally, 1.5-2.5 mm long, slightly shorter after anthesis. Ovary usually exserted, oblong to narrowly ovoid, 2-3 mm long; style branches 1.5-2 mm long, dividing into diverging, fringed arms; stigmas terminal on style arms. Capsules globose-truncate, mostly 5-7 mm long, exerted from spathes, smooth or minutely warty. Seeds angular, rougly prismatic, 3 mm long, glossy, brown with pale, raised angles, approx. 5-sided, facet surfaces undulate to wrinkled . |
| Type location: |
Angola |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | welwitschii: named after the Austrian botanist, Friedrich Martin Welwitsch (1806-1872) |
| Habitat: | Open Miombo woodlands often in rocky ground and in fairly moist habitats including riverbanks and dambos. |
| Altitude range: (metres) | |
| Flowering time: | Oct - Jan |
| Worldwide distribution: | Angola, DRC, Zambia and Zimbabwe |
| FZ divisions: | B,W |
| Zambian distribution (Provinces): | Nw,Cb,W |
| Growth form(s): | Perennial. |
| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Goldblatt, P. & Manning, J.C. (2011). Systematics and biology of the African genus Ferraria (Iridaceae: Irideae). Bothalia 41(1) Pages 1 - 40. |