Leo's Mystery Strumaria
David Victor (Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:43:29 PST)

Dear Mary Sue,

With apologies for the delay - I've been out of town and am just
catching up with things.

As you say, in her book, "Systematics of Hessea, Strumaria and
Carpolyza", Snijman identifies two subspecies. The first, subspecies
bulbifera, is found in the dolerite koppies around
Nieuwoudtville. It is "densely clump-forming", as indicated in
Dylan's note, and has "..a pronounced discoid stylar swelling with an
irregular frilly rim". It is illustrated on page 112, which clearly
indicates the nature of that rim. The left hand photograph of Leo's
plant on the WIKI has that stylar construction and so fits the description.

The other, subspecies discifera, is found to the east of
Nieuwoudtville through to Middlepos, in "..scattered aggregations of
solitary bulbs", again echoing Dylan. It has a disc-like stylar
swelling "..but these are not as broad..and lack a prominent
rim. Elsewhere the stylar swelling tends to be bulbiform.." Again,
it is illustrated well on page 111.

On the subject of Merendera versus Colchicum, Persson's view has been
accepted by Kew - see http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/

Best regards,
David Victor