Iridaceae
Lapeirousia

Lapeirousia littoralis Baker

First published in Trans. Linn. Soc. London, Bot. 1: 272 (1878)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is SW. Angola to N. Cape Prov. It is a tuberous geophyte and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

Iridaceae, P. Goldblatt. Flora Zambesiaca 12:4. 1993

Morphology General Habit
Plants (5)10–35 cm high.
Vegetative Multiplication Corms
Corms campanulate, 10–14 mm in diameter at the base: tunics brown, woody, the outer layers breaking irregularly, rarely becoming fibrous, the basal margin crenate to denticulate.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves few to several, 1.5–4 mm wide, linear, lightly corrugated, the lowermost inserted on the stem at or just below the ground and longer than the rest,equalling the inflorescence in length, rarely somewhat longer, ascending to falcate or trailing, the upper leaves shorter.
Morphology Stem
Stem simple or branched, more or less terete to weakly angled below the nodes: the branches either crowded below, or laxly arranged.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescence comprising 1–several lax to fairly congested spikes of 5–12 flowers; the outer bracts green, 10–20(25) mm long, weakly keeled, the inner bracts smaller, apically forked, becoming membranous.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers with a strong sweet scent, zygomorphic, white to cream-coloured, greenish-yellow. or light purplish-brown: perianth tube more or less dimorphic, slender below, curving outwards and expanded above, (20)30–45(70) mm long, the upper pan c. 6 mm long; tepals subequal, 13–30 × 1.3–2.5(3) mm, narrowly lanceolate to linear-filiform, acute to attenuate, spreading equally at right-angles to the tube, vertical.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens
Stamens unilateral; filaments exserted 2–3 mm; anthers 4–5 mm long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Style
Style dividing between the base and middle of the anthers: style branches forked for c. one-third of their length, usually tangled in the anthers.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Capsules 6–8(11) mm long.
Diagnostic
Easily recognised by the long perianth tube, the narrow tepals and plicate (corrugated) basal leaf.
[FZ]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora Zambesiaca

    • Flora Zambesiaca
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0