''Barberetta'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

perennial plant In horticulture, the term perennial (''wikt:per-#Prefix, per-'' + ''wikt:-ennial#Suffix, -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annual plant, annuals and biennial plant, biennials. It has thus been d ...

s in the family

Haemodoraceae Haemodoraceae is a family of perennial herbaceous angiosperms (flowering plants) containing 15 genera and 102 known species, sometimes known as the "bloodroots", found throughout the Southern Hemisphere, from Australia and New Guinea to South A ...

. It contains only one known species, ''Barberetta aurea''.

Description

''Barberetta aurea'' grows to up to high from a tuberous rootstock and develops about 3 leaves that are arranged like a fan, flattened sideways and so creating a left and right surface rather than an upper and lower surface. The leaves lack a leafstalk, are lance-shaped in outline, hairless, up to long and wide at midlength, narrowing gradually to the foot and the tip, and have five distinct vertical ribs and several finer ribs in between. The stem is weak, long, with some hairs towards the top, and carries its many flowers in a simple raceme, of long. The stalks of the individual flower are inclined upwards, the lower flower stalks are long. Wrapped around the foot of each flower stalk is a persistent lance-shaped

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also lo ...

of up to long. The star-symmetric perianth consists of six tepals of about long and wide, that are yolk yellow when fresh and bright orange when dry. The upper three tepals have an orange spot at their base. The

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s are approximately long. The two upper filaments ascend and slightly diverge, while the lower filament diverges strongly in the direction opposite to the style. The filaments are yellow and carry very short, orange, elliptic anthers. The

ovary The ovary () is a gonad in the female reproductive system that produces ova; when released, an ovum travels through the fallopian tube/ oviduct into the uterus. There is an ovary on the left and the right side of the body. The ovaries are end ...

is green in colour and about in diameter and contains one ovule of approximately in diameter. The ovary is a yellow style of m long that is strongly bent sideways and carries an orange coloured stigma. The ovary develops into an initially yellow, later blackish half egg-shaped capsule of about across that contains a single orange finely papillous seed of around . The sap of this plant stains paper red. cited on ''Barberetta aurea'' has a base chromosome count of 15 (n=15). Small corms grow in the axils of the bracts that are responsible for vegetative reproduction.

Taxonomy

''Barberetta aurea'' was described in 1868 by

William Henry Harvey William Henry Harvey, FRS FLS (5 February 1811 – 15 May 1866) was an Irish botanist and phycologist who specialised in algae. Biography Harvey was born at Summerville near Limerick, Ireland, in 1811, the youngest of 11 children. His father ...

. The genus ''Barberetta'' is named in recognition of a Mrs. Barber who collected this plant for science. ''Aurea'' is a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word meaning "golden". Comparison of homologous DNA has increased the insight in the phylogenetic relationships between the genera in the Haemodoroideae subfamily. The following tree represents those insights.

Distribution, ecology and conservation

''Barberetta aurea'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

(

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

province and

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 ...

). Like in the species of the closely related genus '' Wachendorfia'', two types of individuals occur, plants with only flowers with the style curved to the left and plants with flowers with the style curved to the right, and these are both present within the same populations. This so-called floral enantiomorphy is thought to be a mechanism to increase

outcrossing Out-crossing or out-breeding is the technique of crossing between different breeds. This is the practice of introducing distantly related genetic material into a breeding line, thereby increasing genetic diversity. Outcrossing in animals Out ...

and so boost genetic diversity. The species grows in moist and shaded locations. ''Barberetta aurea'' is considered a

least-concern species A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q8242448, from2=Q15357034 Endemic flora of South Africa Haemodoraceae Monotypic Commelinales genera Flora of the Cape Provinces Flora of KwaZulu-Natal Taxa named by William Henry Harvey