Global InformationGeissorhiza melanthera information
| Geissorhiza melanthera | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Iridaceae |
| Genus: | Geissorhiza |
| Species: | G. melanthera
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| Binomial name | |
| Geissorhiza melanthera Goldblatt & J.C.Manning
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Geissorhiza melanthera is a small perennial plant of 14–18 cm high that is assigned to the family Iridaceae. It survives the dry southern summer through storage of its resources in a corm. The stem carries two or three erect, sticky leaves of up to 18 cm (7 in) long, H-shaped in cross-section. This species blooms with six to twelve bilaterally symmetrical flowers, in a spike. Sometimes the spike has one side branch with fewer flowers. Each flower has six pale beige perianth lobes, a purple-red ring around a purple red tube and three blackish stamens. Each flower is subtended by two 1.25–2.25 cm long green bracts. This species flowers from the end of September till mid October. It is an endemic of the western slopes of the Piketberg mountains in the Western Cape province of South Africa.[1]
- ^ Goldblatt, P.; Manning, J.C. (2013). "Geissorhiza melanthera sp., nov. (Iridaceae: Crocoideae) from the southern African winter rainfall region with comments on its pollination by the bee-fly Megapalpus capensis (Bombyliidae)". South African Journal of Botany. 87: 22–24. doi:10.1016/j.sajb.2013.03.005.