Drimia

Diversité décrite (Catalogue of Life)

Statut de conservation IUCN (parmi les espèces évaluées)

• LC
  8 (44.4%)
• EN
  7 (38.9%)
• VU
  2 (11.1%)
• DD
  1 (5.6%)

Distribution biogéographique

• Baleares (Ibiza); Corsica; Sardinia; Italy; Morocco; Algeria; Tunisia; Cyprus; Lebanon1 esp.
• Distribution: — Litanthus deserticola is only known from the type locality, near Pockenbank, ca. 60 km S of Aus on C 13 (Fig. 3), therefore being endemic to the Namibian flora. A second population of Litanthus was found at Farm Namuskloof near Rosh Pinah (MMA 1594) (Fig. 6) in similar habitats, fitting vegetative and fruiting morphology. Flowering material (including a flower dissection) is necessary for confirmation of this second population and is the aim of our current research based on cultivated plants. The very small size of the new species, its fugacious flowering time together with its hysteranthous behaviour, assist its cryptic appearance and may explain it being overlooked until now. Even when the species is found in flower in habitat, the most important diagnostic characters are only discernible when the tiny flowers of ca. 4 mm long are dissected to reveal filaments morphology and disposition, and the species may have been easily confused with the more widespread L. pusillus. No citations of Litanthus appears to have been made in Namibia so far (Craven 1999, Klaassen & Kwembeya 2013), therefore this representing the first record of the genus for the Namibian flora. The taxonomic revision of Litanthus by Manning et al. (2013) presented a distribution map for L. pusillus, where the species is widely spread in southern and eastern South Africa and southern Zimbabwe, but only one disjunct locality is cited from arid regions in the northern areas of the Northern Cape Province of South Africa (Aggenys, Gamsberg, P. Desmet 3071 NBG!) (see Fig. 2 in Manning et al. 2013). The study of this herbarium collection shows a bulb with a single filiform leaf, an inflorescence with a single flower and a peduncle with a capsule. The flower at dry stage is ca. 4 mm long with a tubular shape and constricted around the middle, and anthers are located in the apical third of the flower, which would fit with L. pusillus but also L. deserticola at dry stage. It is necessary to study the morphology and shape of the filaments with a dissection of the flower from the herbarium collection or from fresh material collected from that locality to elucidate whether it is conspecific to L. deserticola. By now, we prefer considering this collection as unidentified, until further data are gathered for clarification. It is probable that L. deserticola occurs in other regions of southern Namibia and the northern territories of NW South Africa with similar habitats and climate and probably went unnoticed until now due to its cryptic appearance. Our recent collections from Naib se Berge (MMA 2050, ABH) and from Dabenoris Mountains (MMA 2079, ABH) in northwestern South Africa resemble L. deserticola at vegetative stage. Flowering material is necessary to properly identify those latter collections and is focus of our current research. Further studies are needed to ascertain its distribution range and possible threats. Diagnostic characters and taxonomic relationships: — Litanthus deserticola resembles L. pusillus in the general characters of the genus, such as the usually 1 - flowered inflorescence; two subopposite spurred bracts; nodding flowers with tepals connate into a long tube; stamens included with and elongation of the anther connective into a small, translucent, membranous flap; and stigma with six minute, erect teeth (Fig. 1). However, L. deserticola differs by the hysteranthous leaves (vs. commonly synanthous), the urceolate corolla (vs. tubular and constricted around the middle), the filaments being shortly adnate to the corolla for 0.5 mm, and arising around the basal quarter of the tube, ovate-lanceolate, flattened, 2 ‒ 2.3 mm long, distinctly longer than anthers (vs. linear, ca. 0.5 mm long, arising along the apical third of tube and being much shorter than anthers), and its occurrence in desertic regions of southern Namibia (vs. in aseasonal or summer rainfall regions in southern and eastern South Africa and southern Zimbabwe). Litanthus stenocarpus differs from the new species by the longer and tubular flowers 6 ‒ 7 mm long (vs. shorter and urceolate, 3.5 ‒ 4.2 mm long), with tepals cream-coloured showing a distinct brownish longitudinal central band on each tepal along their whole length (vs. white, with a greenish longitudinal central band only visible along the distal half), the filaments linear, 0.5 ‒ 0.7 mm long, adnate to the perigone and inserted at the distal quarter of tube, much shorter than anthers (vs. ovate-lanceolate, flattened, 2 ‒ 2.3 mm long, shortly adnate to the perigone for 0.5 mm, and arising around the basal quarter of tube, distinctly longer than anthers), the ovary about as long as the style (vs. distinctly shorter) and the cylindrical-prismatic, strongly bicoloured capsules (vs. subglobose and uniformly brownish coloured) (Fig. 2) (Manning et al. 2013).1 esp.
• S-Morocco1 esp.

Régions biogéographiques agrégées depuis Catalogue of Life Cross-References (distribution par espèce déclarative).

Profil de traits agrégé

• try_woodiness5 esp.
  non-woody5
• eive_m_position5 esp.
  0.95à3.410-10

  moy 2.05
• eive_n_position5 esp.
  1.81à3.210-10

  moy 2.09
• eive_r_position5 esp.
  4.12à7.370-10

  moy 5.24
• eive_t_position5 esp.
  7.76à9.100-10

  moy 8.47
• try_growth_form5 esp.
  herb5
• try_leaf_type5 esp.
  broadleaved5
• eive_l_position5 esp.
  8.76à9.380-10

  moy 9.26
• try_photosynthetic_pathway3 esp.
  C33

Traits agrégés sur les espèces du taxon (matview taxon_traits_best : WoRMS, FishBase, EBird, GBIF, EOL, TRY…).

Taxons enfants directs (200)

• Genre Adenotheca
• Genre Aulostemon
• Genre Austronea
• Austronea
• Espèce Austronea oblongifolia
• Espèce Austronea phyllopogon
• Genre Boosia
• Charybdis
• Espèce Drimia acarophylla2
• Espèce Drimia albiflora1
• Espèce Drimia altissima17
• Espèce Drimia anomala4
• Espèce Drimia anthericoides7
• Espèce Drimia aphylla7
• Espèce Drimia arenicola1
• Espèce Drimia aurantiaca4
• Espèce Drimia barbata1
• Espèce Drimia barkerae2
• Espèce Drimia basutica6
• Espèce Drimia brachyandra2
• Espèce Drimia brachystachys3
• Espèce Drimia calcarata3
• Espèce Drimia capensis4
• Espèce Drimia chalumnensis3