Ledebouria

Ledebouria, the plants sometimes called spotted squills, is a genus of bulbous, mostly deciduous but rarely evergreen perennials in the Hyacinthaceae family.

The bulbs made up of membranous to fleshy scales are globose, ovoid or oblong, mostly underground. Identification with certainty will in several cases require inspection of the bulb as well as above-ground parts for accessing the distinguishing characteristics. The roots are fleshy, spindle-shaped or contractile, meaning they are thickened, designed to shrink vertically under conditions of seasonal drought.

One to many leaves are borne, usually when the plants flower. The leaves are erect, spreading or flat on the ground. Leaf-shape is linear, oval or spoon-shaped, the margins entire. The blades are mostly smooth, sometimes pitted, sticky or hairy, and often spotted or streaked purple or dark green.

The inflorescence is one or several unbranched racemes. The number of flowers borne in a raceme is quite variable. The racemes sprawl or spread horizontally or are in fewer species erect. Bracts are sometimes present, small and thread-like, usually with even smaller bracteoles as well.

The small Ledebouria flower has six persistent tepals in two whorls, fused at the base in a wide, shallow cup. Tepal shape is oblong to ovate with lobe tips spreading or recurving. The tepals are pink, pinkish purple or white, often with greenish keels. The pedicels vary in length across species, spreading but often drooping.

Six erect stamens emerge from low down on the tepals in the cup base, their filaments free and cylindrical, the anthers turned inwards. The variably shaped, superior and short-stalked ovary is three or six-lobed with two ovules in each locule, topped by a cylindrical style.

Pollination is probably done by many insect species but bees, particularly honey bees are probably important.

The fruit is an ovoid to nearly globose, three-angled capsule. The locules of the capsule dehisce (burst open) independently. The shiny seeds are obovoid, coloured yellow, brown, red or black. Seeds are mostly dispersed by rain water.

There are about 60 Ledebouria species in Africa and Asia, 38 of them in southern Africa where they are mostly found in the summer rainfall region.

Several species are used in traditional medicine, a few in horticulture. Porcupines eat the bulbs of some species.

The genus is named after Carl Friedrich von Ledebour (1785 to 1851), a German-Estonian botanist and professor of science at the University of Tartu, Estonia from 1811 to 1836.

The spotted leaves in picture have not been identified with any certainty. They somewhat resemble the leaves of Ledebouria socialis, known in several forms and cultivars, usually without leaf margin undulations; L. ovatifolia that grows from the Eastern Cape to tropical Africa and does occur in the Magaliesberg where the photo was taken, L. revoluta that grows from Swellendam to India and is highly variable and L. floribunda that is widespread in the region where this plant grows (Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Lowrey and Wright, 1987; http://pza.sanbi.org; www.pacificbulbsociety.com).