[pbs] Help with Resnova pilosa/Hyacinthaceae
Mary Sue Ittner
msittner at mcn.org
Mon Jun 2 13:12:55 EDT 2008
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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