This is quite a useful note in the Flora of Tropical East Africa (I. Nordal, 1982) account for S. multiflorus: "S. multiflorus subsp. multiflorus is widespread and heterogeneous, occuopying a wide range of habitats. Lack of discontinuity prevents further delimitation. Only in the lowland rainforests of Sierra Leone to Gabon and in the coastal areas from Swaziland to the East Cape is differentiation sharp enough to justify separation of subsp. longitubus and subsp. katherinae respectively. In East Africa [ i.e. Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania] the typical savanna form is slender with flowers before the leaves, the mountain form more robust with flowers and leaves contemporary. Intervening habitats have intermediate forms, and the differences disappear in cultivation." Unfortunately, as is so often the case with regional floras, taxa occurring outside their limits are not described, and the only clue to the distinction of subsp. multiflorus provided by Nordal here is the line "Perianth tube usually less than 1.5 cm long; segments usually narrower than 2.5 mm." The dimensions for the whole species, however, are: perianth tube 0.4-2.6 cm long, segments 0.5-5 mm broad. In the absence of comparable detailed descriptions of South African material it is difficult to define subsp. katherinae but Elsa Pooley's Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of Kwa-Zulu-natal has a go, although not providing strictly comparable descriptions: katharinae: Deciduous, robust, to 1.2 m. Coastal & swamp forest. Lamina c. 350 x 150 mm, pseudostem c. 600 mm, produced before flowers. Inflorescence c. 200 mm diameter, stem c. 650 mm, flower tube c. 22 mm, pedicels c. 45 mm multiflorus: Deciduous, robust, to 1 m. Light shade in bushveld, grassland, coast to 2700 m. Lamina c. 450 x 410 mm, shiny, margins wavy, produced after or with flowers, pseudostem and two reduced leaves speckled red-brown at the base ; Inflorescence round, c. 150 (-260) mm diam, stem speckled towards base; flower tube c. 15 mm, tepal lobes c. 30 mm. So it seems that there are significant morphological differences, and also in habitat. My impression from illustrations (I have not grown katherinae) is that katherinae has a flatter and possibly less densely-flowered inflorescence than the big round ball of multiflorus. Hopefully Jonathan Hutchinson will be able to provide further comments and more details. East African subsp. multiflorus can be essentially evergreen in the wild (and in cultivation) - certainly in the Kilimanjaro forest I frequently saw the new shoot spearing through the pseudostem of the previous year's shoot - this would be more or less prostrate, though still green and active. But the deciduosity of the foliage will depend very much on the site and available moisture. I have seen it flowering (without leaves) in the dry savanna of the Serengeti - where the big balls of flowers are a striking sight - and have to say that I don't think the inflorescences were much, if any, smaller than those from the forest. John Grimshaw Dr John M. Grimshaw Sycamore Cottage Colesbourne Nr Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 9NP Tel. 01242 870567 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Douglas Westfall" <eagle85@flash.net> To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 6:40 PM Subject: Re: [pbs] Scadoxus multiflorus ssp. katherinae "Jim wrote: "I’ve often wondered what differences there are between S. multiflorus multiflorus and S. multiflorus katherinae" > From what I've read, it sounds like one is evergreen and one is > deciduous." Doug, what say you? Basically, that is true. 75 to 80% of S. m. k hold their leaves and pseudostem through the year until the "new" is ready to appear. At that time, the old "dies" away and the "new" starts up. Shortly thereafter, the "flower spike" appears. The "bulb" of this one is somewhere between a bulb and a risome. Scadoxus multiflorus forms more of a bulb, and it "buries" itself in the planting medium. DO NOT "OVER WATER" this bulb as it will rot if overwatered. There is also "miniature"/"dwarf" form of S. multiflorus. It is also more of a bulb, buries itself, and goes completely "dormant". I hope this "non-scientific" answer helps to distinguish between the two. Doug _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.526 / Virus Database: 270.5.8/1582 - Release Date: 30/07/2008 18:37