Help with Resnova pilosa/Hyacinthaceae

Mary Sue Ittner msittner@mcn.org
Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:12:55 PDT
Hi,

When Justin asked about this plant I looked it up as I had never heard of 
the genus. Like Paul I learned it was in the Hycinthaceae family. I 
couldn't find this species listed in any of the many South African flora 
books I consulted. IPNI lists:
Hyacinthaceae Resnova pilosa van der Merwe.
Aant. Hers. Gen. Scilla Suid-Afr. (Tydskr. Wetensk. Kuns, vi. Afl. 3) 46 
(1946).

So it appears to have been published in 1946.

Both Kew and IPNI give this reference:
basionym of: Hyacinthaceae Ledebouria pilosa

 (

Van der Merwe ) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt
Edinburgh J. Bot. 60(3): 561 (2003 publ. 14 April 2004).
Kew lists this species as native from Mpumalanga to KwaZulu-Natal so it 
would be from a summer rainfall area. I'd assume it would be dormant in 
winter and grow in summer. Rogan are you familiar with this plant and can 
you help Justin with cultivation information?

John Bryan's Bulbs directs most of the Resnovas including this one to 
Drimiopsis maxima. That plant is listed by Kew as Resnova 
humifusa  (published 1997) with a note that this new name is not accepted 
by other check lists. Presumably they did not choose to call it Resnova 
maxima since there already was a plant by that name published in  1946. 
Ledebouria maxima is listed as a synonym from the Manning and Goldblatt 
reference above for for Resnova maxima.

Looking through the Kew synonym list for Resnova species you find 
Drimiopsis, Scilla, Ledebouria as synonyms.

Any Hyacinthaceae experts in our group that can explain the difference 
between Resnova, Scilla, Drimiopsis, and Ledebouria? I'd love to add this 
to the wiki.

All the name changes may be really fascinating for taxonomists, but it 
makes it really difficult (I say again) for people who want to grow the 
plants to get information about them when the name has changed and you have 
books written prior to those changes. How in the world do we keep up?

Mary Sue


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