''Pseudogaltonia'' is a

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 ...

bulb In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...

ous flowering plants in the

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

Asparagaceae Asparagaceae, known as the asparagus family, is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots. The family name is based on the edible garden asparagus, ''Asparagus officinalis''. Those who live in the temperate c ...

, subfamily

Scilloideae Scilloideae (named after the genus ''Scilla'', "squill") is a subfamily of bulbous plants within the family ''Asparagaceae''. Scilloideae is sometimes treated as a separate family Hyacinthaceae, named after the genus ''Hyacinthus''. Scilloideae or ...

(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 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 Kalahar ...

Description

''Pseudogaltonia'' grows from a large

with a fibrous tunic. The flowers are borne on a long stem ( scape) in a pyramid-shaped

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

. 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, 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 Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze (23 June 1843 – 27 January 1907) was a German botanist. Biography Otto Kuntze was born in Leipzig. An apothecary in his early career, he published an essay entitled ''Pocket Fauna of Leipzig''. Between 1863 and 1866 he ...

in 1886 as the name of a section within the genus ''

Hyacinthus ''Hyacinthus'' is a small genus of bulbous, spring-blooming perennials. They are fragrant flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae and are commonly called hyacinths (). The genus is native to the area of the eastern M ...

''. 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 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''.

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 plan ...

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 A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

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

Pseudogaltonia liliiflora ''Pseudogaltonia'' 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'', retrie ...

'' J.C.Manning & Goldblatt

Notes

References

Bibliography

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