Drimia elata

Drimia elata ("Satin squill") is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae,[2] subfamily Scilloideae.[3] It is widely distributed in eastern and southern Africa.[2]

Drimia elata
Botanical illustration from Les Liliacées by Pierre-Joseph Redouté
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asparagaceae
Subfamily: Scilloideae
Genus: Drimia
Species:
D. elata
Binomial name
Drimia elata
Jacq.[1]

Description
Botanical illustration of Drimia elata

Drimia elata is a perennial, growing from a bulb with reddish scales, and reaching a maximum height of 100cm. The leaves are long (circa 25cm) slender (1-2cm), linear to narrowly lanceolate, sometimes wavy with minute hairs especially along the margins.

The inflorescence appears between December and April (southern hemisphere), after the leaves are already dry. It is borne on a scape up to 1.2 m (4 ft) tall, and takes the form of a thin, dense, terminal raceme.

The individual flowers are grey-white to purple-brown. They have recurved tepal lobes, and dark blueish purple anthers. The flowers are pedicellate, subtended by a bract with a small and distinctive spur near its base. The trilocular, oblong fruit capsule contains the small ovate seeds.[4][5]

Taxonomy

Drimia elata was described by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin in a work published in 1797.[1][6] The species was subsequently included in the fourth edition of Species Plantarum, published in 1799, authored by Carl Ludwig Willdenow.[7] It is the type species of the genus Drimia.[8] The specific epithet elata means "tall".[4]

Distribution and habitat

Drimia elata is found in east and southern Africa: Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland and South Africa.[2] In Zimbabwe, it is noted as occurring in rocky grassland.[4] In South Africa, where it occurs from Namaqualand to Cape Town and across the southern Cape, it is recorded as growing on sandy to clay-rich soils, in Renosterveld and Succulent Karoo vegetation.[9][10]

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References
  1. "Plant Name Details for Drimia elata Jacq.", The International Plant Names Index, retrieved 2017-08-06
  2. "Drimia elata", World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, retrieved 2017-08-06
  3. Chase, M.W.; Reveal, J.L. & Fay, M.F. (2009), "A subfamilial classification for the expanded asparagalean families Amaryllidaceae, Asparagaceae and Xanthorrhoeaceae", Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 161 (2): 132–136, doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00999.x
  4. Hyde, M.A.; Wursten, B.T.; Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2017), "Species information: Drimia elata", Flora of Zimbabwe, retrieved 2017-08-06
  5. Drimia elata description, Fernkloof Nature Reserve
  6. Jacquin, N.J. (1797) [title page 1796], "Drimia elata", Collectaneorum Supplementum (in Latin), Vienna (Vindobona), pp. 38–39, retrieved 2017-08-03
  7. Willdenow, C.L. (1799), "651 Drimia", Species Plantarum : Editio Quarta (in Latin), 2, Berlin, pp. 165–166, retrieved 2017-08-03
  8. Manning, J.C.; Goldblatt, P.; Fay, M.F. (2004). "A revised generic synopsis of Hyacintheaceae in sub-Saharan Africa, based on molecular evidence, including new combinations and the new tribe Pseudoprospereae". Edinburgh Journal of Botany. 60 (3): 533–568. doi:10.1017/S0960428603000404.
  9. Manning, J.C., Goldblatt, P., Snijman, D. (2002). Color Encyclopedia of Cape Bulbs. Timber Press, Portland. p.139.
  10. SANBI Redlist
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