Eucomis schijffii flowers

    Eucomis schijffii flowers
    Author: Ivan Lätti
    Photographer: Judd Kirkel Welwitch

    The flowers of Eucomis schijffii grow in a dense raceme on a sturdy, erect stalk mottled maroon. The club-shaped stalk is short and tipped by a coma or crown of triangular bracts.

    The foetid flowers are creamy and wine-red to maroon. The filaments are purple, the pale yellow anthers spread from them over the six tepals that are fused at the base. The three-locular, greenish ovary is superior, the filaments and tepals emerging from below it. Flowering happens in summer, peaking in midsummer.

    The fruit is a three-angled capsule. The ovoid, dull blackish brown seeds are covered in reticulate, net-like coats (Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; iNaturalist; https://pza.sanbi.org).

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