Hypoxidaceae
Curculigo
Curculigo pilosa

Curculigo pilosa subsp. minor (Guinea) Wiland

First published in Fragm. Florist. Geobot. 42: 16 (1997)
This subspecies is accepted
The native range of this subspecies is Tropical Africa. It is a perennial or rhizomatous geophyte and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

Hypoxidaceae, J. Wiland-Szymańska, I. Nordal. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2006

Type
Type: Equatorial Guinea, Guinea 399 (MA, holo.; BR!, iso.)
Morphology General Height
Plant up to 0.4 m high
Vegetative Multiplication Rhizomes
Rhizome 1.4–11 cm long and 3–9 mm wide
Morphology Leaves
Leaves 6–50 cm long and 1–5 mm wide; veins 5–27
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Scape
Scapes 1–3, 1.2–4.7 cm long and 0.5–2 mm wide.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers solitary or rarely in 2–5-flowered racemes, hermaphrodite or male with a reduced pistil; lower bract 1.9–3.5 cm long and 3–5 mm wide, 11–15-veined; upper bract 1.3–1.5 cm long and 0.2–1.5 mm wide; in 2–5-flowered inflorescences each flower is subtended by only one bract, relatively wide and short, never fused in the basal part, 0.8–2.7 cm long and 1.3–4 mm wide, about 5-veined; perianth segments (6–)7–10(–12) mm long and (1.5–)2–2.5 mm wide; stamens 3–5 mm long, filaments 1.5–3 mm long, anthers 2–3 mm long, fused at the apex; ovary 5–10 mm long and 1–1.5 mm wide, rostrum 1.6–6 cm long, style 3–6 mm long, stigma fused or free, 0.5–2 mm long
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit 9–11 mm long, 3 mm wide
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds with a small recurved funicle, sometimes striate.
Ecology
No data; 1300 m
Distribution
Range: Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Equatorial Guinea, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, Zambia Flora districts: U4
[FTEA]

Hypoxidaceae, I. Nordal & C. Zimudzi. Flora Zambesiaca 12:3. 2001

Morphology General Habit
Perennial herb up to c. 12(35) cm tall; rhizome vertical, 1–5 cm long and 5–8 mm in diameter, cylindrical, with scattered contractile roots.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves many, stiffly erect; outer leaves (cataphylls) 2–7, sheathing at the base with broad hyaline margins, lamina usually absent or 3–6 cm long, ± densely pilose-pubescent outside in the upper part, ± floccose-lanate at the apex; inner leaves 1–3, with lamina up to 12 cm × 2–4 mm, linear-lanceolate, becoming linear-elliptic and arching outwards in mature leaves and tapering into a narrowed usually pilose pseudopetiole before widening into a sheathing base, ± plicate, ± densely pilose toward the apex, glabrescent toward the base, midrib and submarginal veins prominent on abaxial surface; indumentum of 3–many-armed (stellate) hairs.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Scape
Scapes 1(3), hidden amongst the leaf bases, 2–2.5 cm long, flattened in cross-section, pilose on the edges.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers 3–4, subsessile, spicately arranged; rhachis up to c. 10 mm long, zigzag, subtended by a large spathe-like bract 16–21 mm long; each flower in turn subtended by a floral bract 10–14 mm long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Perianth
Perianth tube up to 1.5(2.5) cm long, slender, densely pilose towards the base; perianth segments spreading, mostly 6–9 × 1.5–2.5 mm, narrowly elliptic, outer lobes reddish outside yellow inside and thinly pilose outside, the inner dull yellow and glabrous; filaments 1.5–2.2 mm long; thecae c. 1–2.5 mm long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Ovary
Ovary subtended by 1 bract.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit not known.
[FZ]

Hypoxidaceae, F. N. Hepper. Flora of West Tropical Africa 3:1. 1968

Morphology General Habit
A small herb
Morphology Leaves
Narrow leaves
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Small yellow flowers
Ecology
In moist sandy places in savanna.
[FWTA]

Sources

  • Flora Zambesiaca

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

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of West Tropical Africa

    • Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • 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 2024. 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 2024. 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