''Albuca shawii'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

bulb In botany, a bulb is a short underground 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 plant from southern Africa. It flowers in the summer and has yellow flowers on stems to about 30 cm high.

Description

''Albuca shawii'' is a summer-growing and winter-dormant bulbous plant, flowering from September to February in its native habitat in southern Africa. It has narrow, somewhat fleshy leaves covered with short, slightly sticky hairs. The flower stems are around 30 cm tall and carry nodding flowers with tepals about 15 mm long, yellow with green stripes. The flowers are scented. There are very short hairs on both the leaves and stems of the plant, only a fraction of a millimetre long. A scent is released if the stems are rubbed.

Taxonomy

''Albuca shawii'' was first described by

John Gilbert Baker John Gilbert Baker (13 January 1834 – 16 August 1920) was an England, English botanist. His son was the botanist Edmund Gilbert Baker (1864–1949). Biography Baker was born in Guisborough in North Yorkshire, the son of John and Mary (née ...

in 1874. The specific epithet ''shawii'' commemorates the collector, named by Baker only as "Dr Shaw", and identified elsewhere as the Scottish botanist John Shaw. Baker placed the species in a new series within the genus ''Albuca'', ''Leptostyla'', noting both its long, thin

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

and the sterile outer stamens. Along with other species of ''Albuca'', ''A. shawii'' has been placed in the genus ''

Ornithogalum ''Ornithogalum'' is a genus of perennial plants mostly native to southern Europe and southern Africa belonging to the family Asparagaceae. Some species are native to other areas such as the Caucasus. Some species are classified as noxious invas ...

'' (as ''O. shawii''), but

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

studies have supported the separation of the two genera. The species has been synonymized with '' Albuca tenuifolia'', but this has been rejected.

Distribution and habitat

''Albuca shawii'' is native to southern Africa (the

Cape Provinces The Cape Provinces of South Africa is a biogeographical area used in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD). It is part of the WGSRPD region 27 Southern Africa. The area has the code "CPP". It includes the Sou ...

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

, the Free State and the

Northern Provinces The Northern Provinces of South Africa is a biogeographical area used in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD). It is part of the WGSRPD region 27 Southern Africa. The area has the code "TVL". It includes the ...

). It grows on cliffs and rocky grassland at elevations of 150–2400 m. Albuca shawii 150820

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15517325 shawii