Herbertia lahue

(Molina) Goldblatt

Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 64: 379. 1978.

Illustrated
Basionym: Ferraria lahue Molina Sag. Stor. Nat. Chili ed. 2, 110. 1810
Synonyms: Alophia lahue (Molina) Espinosa Alophia lahue subsp. caerulea (Herbert) Ravenna Cypella drummondii (Herbert) Herbert Herbertia caerulea Herbert Herbertia drummondiana Baker Herbertia lahue subsp. caerulea (Herbert) Goldblatt Herbertia watsonii Herbert Iris brachystigma (Molina) Goldblatt Trifurcia caerulea Trifurcia lahue Trifurcia lahue subsp. caerulea (Herbert) Goldblatt
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 26. Treatment on page 397. Mentioned on page 396, 398.

Plants (6–)8–15(–24) cm. Bulbs (10–)15–20 mm diam. Stems simple or 1–3 branched, branching usually from base. Leaves 4–6, mostly basal, ± reaching base of inflorescence, cauline leaves often entirely sheathing; blade ± linear, 4–6 mm wide. Rhipidia (1–)2–5-flowered; outer spathe ca. 2/3 to ± equaling inner, inner (35–)40–50 mm, apex becoming dry. Tepals bluish purple to violet; outer spreading, lanceolate, 23–28 × 15–18 mm, flaccid, claws white at base, speckled with violet, 6–7 mm; inner violet, darkest on claws, ca. 8–12 × 3 mm; filament column ca. 5 mm; anthers recurving soon after dehiscence, 7–10 mm; ovary oblong, 5–7 mm; style branches 5–6 mm, forked apically for ca. 2.5 mm. Capsules ovoid–oblong-truncate, 15–25 mm. Seeds ca. 2.5 mm.


Phenology: Flowering mid Mar–early May.
Habitat: Woodlands and prairies, most common near coast

Distribution

V26 814-distribution-map.jpg

Fla., La., Tex., South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay).

Discussion

Herbertia lahue is probably introduced in Florida.

The taxonomy of Herbertia lahue has been much confused. Plants from North America were originally treated as H. caerulea, separate from the South American members of the genus. P. Ravenna (1968) regarded differences between this and two South American species, H. lahue and H. amoena, as trivial and not sufficient to allow anything more than infraspecific separation. He considered plants from northern Argentina to be indistinguishable from those from North America and united them under subsp. caerulea. Without ennumerating their differences, Ravenna treated plants from coastal southern Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina with slightly smaller flowers as subsp. amoena (Grisebach) Goldblatt, and those from Chile as subsp. lahue. The variation in North American populations makes it impossible to maintain even subspecies in H. lahue on the basis of available information.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.
... more about "Herbertia lahue"
Peter Goldblatt +
(Molina) Goldblatt +
Ferraria lahue +
Fla. +, La. +, Tex. +, South America (Argentina +, Brazil +, Chile +  and Uruguay). +
Woodlands and prairies, most common near coast +
Flowering mid Mar–early May. +
Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. +
Illustrated +
Alophia lahue +, Alophia lahue subsp. caerulea +, Cypella drummondii +, Herbertia caerulea +, Herbertia drummondiana +, Herbertia lahue subsp. caerulea +, Herbertia watsonii +, Iris brachystigma +, Trifurcia caerulea +, Trifurcia lahue +  and Trifurcia lahue subsp. caerulea +
Herbertia lahue +
Herbertia +
species +