Operation Wildflower
  • Home
  • Albums
  • Links
    • Botanical Gardens
    • OWF Sites
    • Public Parks, Gardens and Reserves
    • Reference Sites
    • Private Parks, Gardens and Reserves
  • Information
    • About Us
    • Articles
    • Contact Us
    • Disclaimer
    • Glossary
    • Plant Records
      • Aloes
      • Bulbs
      • Climbers
      • Cycads
      • Euphorbias
      • Ferns
      • Grasses
      • Herbs
      • Orchids
      • Parasites
      • Shrubs
      • Succulents
      • Trees
    • Sources of Information
    • Subject Index
Home Home » TYPES » Bulbs » Melasphaerula graminea
Back to Category Overview
Total images in all categories: 12,081
Total number of hits on all images: 7,379,203

Melasphaerula graminea

Melasphaerula graminea
Start View full size
[Please activate JavaScript in order to see the slideshow]
Previous Previous
Image 109 of 233  
Next Next
Image 111 of 233  
  • Gloriosa rigidifolia
  • Gloriosa rigidifolia flower
  • Gloriosa rigidifolia flower profile
  • Gloriosa rigidifolia inflorescence
  • Hessea breviflora
  • Hessea breviflora flowers
  • Hessea breviflora inflorescence
  • Hessea breviflora leaves and peduncle
  • Melasphaerula graminea
  • Melasphaerula graminea brown tepal lines
  • Melasphaerula graminea flowering over its neighbours
  • Melasphaerula graminea flowers
  • Melasphaerula graminea green fruit
  • Melasphaerula graminea leaves
  • Melasphaerula graminea tepals appearing elongated
  • Melasphaerula graminea wiry stems, spaced flowers
  • Merwilla plumbea bulb tunics in spring

Image information

Description

Melasphaerula graminea, commonly known as fairybells, in Afrikaans as feeklokkies (little fairy bells) or baardmannetjie (little bearded man) and previously as M. ramosa, is a cormous perennial growing deciduous above-ground leaves and flowers annually to heights around 1 m. The bell-shaped corm, covered in concentric layers of a woody to papery tunic, roots from its flat base.

The generic name, Melasphaerula, is derived from the Greek words melas meaning black, sphaira meaning sphere and -ulus meaning diminutive; the significance of the small black sphere is not known. The specific name, graminea, is derived from the Latin work gramen meaning grass and -ium indicating resemblance, i.e. grass-like.

The species distribution is in the Northern Cape and the Western Cape, from Namaqualand to the Cape Peninsula and eastwards to around George.

The habitat is moist, sheltered and shady spots among scrub, rocks and trees in the winter rainfall region. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Le Roux, et al, 2005; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Andrew, 2017; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).

Hits
309
Photographer
Thabo Maphisa
Author
Ivan Latti
 
Back to Category Overview
Powered by JoomGallery