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Urginavia altissima

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A plant in cultivation by Xero Sicyos, Llifle.com.


Photo of the large inflorescence on a wild plant by  S. Rügheimer, Southernafricanplants.net.


The flowers close-up by Marco Schmidt, Africanplants.senckenberg.de.

Author: Franz Speta, 1998
Family:  HYACINTHACEAE*
Origin:  Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zaďre
Soil:  Mix
Water:  Medium - Maximum
Sun:  Maximum
Thickness:  12 Centimetres
Height:  40 (200) Centimetres
Flower:  White / Green
Propagate:  Seeds/Bulbs
Names:  African Squill, Tall White Squill
Synonyms:  Drimia barteri, Baker.
Drimia paolii,
Chiov.
Drimia uitenhagensis,
Eckl.
Idothea altissima,
Kuntze.
Idothea barteri,
Kuntze.
Ornithogalum altissimum,
L.f.
Ornithogalum giganteum,
Jacq.
Scilla micrantha,
A.Rich.
Urginavia altissima,
Speta.
Urginavia epigea,
Speta.
Urginavia micrantha,
Speta.
Urginea brevipes,
Baker.
Urginea gigantea,
Oyewole.
Urginea micrantha,
Solms.
And Urginea epigea, Robert Allen Dyer, 1947 - I' afraid.

This member of the Hyacinthaceae family was given this name by Franz Speta in 1998. It is found in Africa below Sahara, growing in a drained but rich soil with quite some water and lots of sun. The bulb can grow to twelve centimetres in diameter, the entire plant to 40 centimetres in height, 200 centimetres with the inflorescence. The flowers are white and green.

The genera name after Johannes Heinrich Ursinus, 1608-1667, a German author, scholar, Lutheran theologian, humanist and dean of Regensburg. The species name indicates, the inflorescence is high.

*)Accordantly to the latest taxonomic system; APG IV 2016, Hyacinthaceae is now part of the Asparagaceae.