''Pseudogaltonia'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of bulbous flowering plants in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae (also treated as the family Hyacinthaceae).Stevens, P.F. (2001 onwards),
Asparagales: Scilloideae
, ''Angiosperm Phylogeny Website'', retrieved 2014-02-25 It is distributed in southern Africa (the

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 ...

of South Africa,

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 ...

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

Description

''Pseudogaltonia'' grows from a large bulb with a fibrous tunic. The flowers are borne on a long stem ( scape) in a pyramid-shaped raceme. Individual flowers are borne on long stalks (

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

) and droop downwards. The

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s are fused at the base, forming a tube about two-thirds or three-quarters of the length of the flower, swollen slightly at its base. The tubular part of the tepals is green, the free lobes are whitish with a green streak. The

stamens The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

, which protrude from the flower, have broad triangle-shaped filaments which are arise from the mouth of the flower tube and green anthers. The seeds are black.

Systematics

The name ''Pseudogaltonia'' was first used by Otto Kuntze in 1886 as the name of a section within the genus '' Hyacinthus''. He also suggested that those who preferred smaller genera could use it as the name of a separate genus.) preferred smaller genera might do so. In 1888,

Adolf Engler Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler (25 March 1844 – 10 October 1930) was a German botanist. He is notable for his work on plant taxonomy and phytogeography, such as ''Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien'' (''The Natural Plant Families''), edited with ...

used Kuntze's ''Pseudogaltonia'' as a genus name in his treatment of the Liliaceae. Kuntze had named the only species known at that time as ''Hyacinthus pechuelii'', which Engler transferred to ''Pseudogaltonia pechuelii''. However, the species had already been described with the name ''Galtonia clavata'' in 1884, giving the epithet ''"clavata"'' priority over ''"pechuelii."'' A second species of ''Pseudogaltonia'', ''P. liliiflora'', was named in 2009. The genus is placed in the tribe Ornithogaleae (or the subfamily Ornithogaloideae by those who use the family Hyacinthaceae). Within this tribe, molecular phylogenetic studies place it as most closely related to the genus ''

Dipcadi ''Dipcadi'' is a genus of bulbous flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae (also treated as the family Hyacinthaceae).Stevens, P.F. (2001 onwards),Asparagales: Scilloideae, ''Angiosperm Phylogeny Website'', retrieved 2 ...

''.

Species

, 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 pla ...

recognized the following two

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

: *'' Pseudogaltonia clavata'' (Baker ex Mast.) E.Phillips – synonyms include ''Galtonia clavata'' Baker ex Mast., ''Ornithogalum clavatum'' (Baker ex Mast.) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt; ''Hyacinthus pechuelii'' Kuntze, ''Pseudogaltonia pechuelii'' (Kuntze) Engl. *'' Pseudogaltonia liliiflora'' J.C.Manning & Goldblatt

Notes

References

Bibliography

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q5673320 Asparagaceae genera Scilloideae Flora of Southern Africa