''Ammocharis'' is a small

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

from

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

, in the family

Amaryllidaceae The Amaryllidaceae are a family of herbaceous, mainly perennial and bulbous (rarely rhizomatous) flowering plants in the monocot order Asparagales. The family takes its name from the genus ''Amaryllis'' and is commonly known as the amaryllis fa ...

(subfamily

Amaryllidoideae Amaryllidoideae (Amaryllidaceae ''s.s.'', amaryllids) is a subfamily of monocot flowering plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, order Asparagales. The most recent APG classification, APG III, takes a broad view of the Amaryllidaceae, which then ...

) which includes seven species distributed in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. The plant grows as above-ground bulb, preferring seasonally wet, hot, sandy soils and full sun.

Taxonomy

Herbert Herbert may refer to: People Individuals * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert Name * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert ...

segregated ''Ammocharis'' from ''

Crinum ''Crinum'' is a genus of about 180 species of perennial plants that have large showy flowers on leafless stems, and develop from bulbs. They are found in seasonally moist areas, including marshes, swamps, depressions and along the sides of strea ...

'' in 1821, with two species, ''A. coranica'' and ''A. falcata'' (both originally ''

Amaryllis ''Amaryllis'' () is the only genus in the subtribe Amaryllidinae (tribe Amaryllideae). It is a small genus of flowering bulbs, with two species. The better known of the two, ''Amaryllis belladonna'', is a native of the Western Cape region of S ...

''). He also placed one of

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

' original ''Amaryllis'' species, ''A. longifolia'', in ''Crinum'' as ''C. capense''. This species would also eventually find its way into ''Ammocharis''. In 1847 Roemer placed ''Amaryllis longifolia'' in ''Ammocharis'' as ''Ammocharis longifolfolia'', (Linn.) Roem. without realising it was

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organ ...

with ''Ammocharis falcata''. However many subsequent authors included only the two original species. A major review of the genus was undertaken by Milne-Redhead and Schweickerdt in 1939. In their recircumscription they identified five species. With respect to ''A. longifolia=falcata'' they concluded that while very closely related it was sufficiently distinct as to deserve of generic status, coining the term ''Cybistetes'' grc-gre, κυβιστητης, or tumbler, after the way the wind tumbles the

infructescence Infructescence (fruiting head) is defined as the ensemble of fruits derived from the ovaries of an inflorescence. It usually retains the size and structure of the inflorescence. In some cases, infructescences are similar in appearance to simple fru ...

. From then onwards ''Cybistetes'' was treated as a separate genus. With the development of molecular phylogenetics, Meerow ''et al.'' established Amaryllideae and its

subtribe Subtribe is a taxonomic category ranking which is below the rank of tribe and above genus. The standard suffix for a subtribe is -ina (in animals) or -inae (in plants Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plant ...

Crininae Crininae is one of four subtribes within the tribe Amaryllideae ( subfamily Amaryllidoideae, family Amaryllidaceae), with a pantropical distribution (''Crinum'') and also sub-Saharan Africa. Description Leaves frequently show an intercalary ...

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

taxa. Under their

circumscription Circumscription may refer to: *Circumscribed circle *Circumscription (logic) *Circumscription (taxonomy) * Circumscription theory, a theory about the origins of the political state in the history of human evolution proposed by the American anthrop ...

''Ammocharis'' is placed within subtribe Crininae, which has three genera. But, depending on the status of ''Cybistetes'', two to three genera may be considered. If ''Cybistetes'' is considered separately as ''Cybistetes longifolia'' (L.) Milne-Redh. & Schweick. it is placed in a

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

relationship to ''Ammocharis'' within the subtribe, and with ''Crinum'' placed as sister to ''Cybistetes''+''Ammocharis''. Snijman and Kolberg also place this species within ''Ammocharis'', and provide a

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

to the genus.(2011)

Subdivision

The

World Checklist of Selected Plant Families The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (usually abbreviated to WCSP) is an "international collaborative programme that provides the latest peer reviewed and published opinions on the accepted scientific names and synonyms of selected plan ...

(WCLSPF) list seven species, including ''Ammocharis longifolia'', rather than consider it as the separate

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus, ''Cybistetes longifolia''. The (WCLSPF) places it in ''Ammocharis'', based on Germishuizen and Meyer (2003). This species has also been called ''Cybistetes herrei'' (F.M.Leight.) D.Müll.-Doblies & U.Müll.-Doblies or ''Ammocharis herrei'', but if accepted as ''Ammocharis'', then ''A. longifolia'' is the preferred name in WCLSPF. The placement of ''Ammocharis longifolia'' (=''Cybistetes longifolia'') was finally settled following the detailed study of in depth relationships in Crininae by Kwembeya ''et al.'' in 2007, and ''Cybistetes longifolia'' restored to ''Ammocharis''. *''

Ammocharis angolensis ''Ammocharis'' is a small genus from sub-Saharan Africa, in the family Amaryllidaceae (subfamily Amaryllidoideae) which includes seven species distributed in Africa. The plant grows as above-ground bulb, preferring seasonally wet, hot, sandy soi ...

'' (Baker) Milne-Redh. & Schweick.

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

*''

Ammocharis baumii ''Ammocharis'' is a small genus from sub-Saharan Africa, in the family Amaryllidaceae (subfamily Amaryllidoideae) which includes seven species distributed in Africa. The plant grows as above-ground bulb, preferring seasonally wet, hot, sandy soi ...

'' ( Harms) Milne-Redh. & Schweick. Tropical Africa to

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

*''

Ammocharis coranica ''Ammocharis'' is a small genus from sub-Saharan Africa, in the family Amaryllidaceae (subfamily Amaryllidoideae) which includes seven species distributed in Africa. The plant grows as above-ground bulb, preferring seasonally wet, hot, sandy soi ...

'' ( Ker Gawl.) Herb. Distributed from

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

to South Africa. Known as "Karoo Lily". *'' Ammocharis deserticola'' Snijman & Kolberg *''

Ammocharis longifolia ''Ammocharis longifolia'' is a species of bulbous plant in the family Amaryllidaceae. It has been placed as the only species, ''Cybistetes longifolia'', in the monotypic genus ''Cybistetes''. Description ''Ammocharis longifolia'' is a perenni ...

'' ( L.) Herb. ("Malgas Lily") Southern

and western

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...

. *'' Ammocharis nerinoides'' (

Baker A baker is a tradesperson who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient history Since grains ha ...

) Lehmiller Namibia *'' Ammocharis tinneana'' (

Kotschy Kotschy is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Carl Friedrich Kotschy (1789–1856), Austrian theologian and botanist * Theodor Kotschy Karl Georg Theodor Kotschy pl, Teodor Koczy (15 April 1813 – 11 June 1866) was an Austri ...

& Peyr.) Milne-Redh. & Schweick. Distributed from

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

to Namibia.

Etymology

The genus name derives from two

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

words: ἄμμος (ammos) sand, and χάρις (charis) joy, signifying "delight of the sandy plains" (where it is found).

References

Bibliography

* For references to ''Ammocharis'', see pp. 2ff., 5ff. and 17. * *
online version
* * * * * * * * *

External links

Pacific Bulb Society

Flora of Zimbabwe
{{Taxonbar, from=Q146154 Amaryllidaceae genera Amaryllidoideae