''Chasmanthe'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...
of
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...
s in the family
Iridaceae
Iridaceae is a family of plants in order Asparagales, taking its name from the irises, meaning rainbow, referring to its many colours. There are 66 accepted genera with a total of c. 2244 species worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016). It inclu ...
, first described in 1932. It is endemic to
Cape Province
The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...
in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...
. It is widely grown as an ornamental and naturalized in various locations.
[Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]
/ref>
In their native habitat the flowers are pollinated by sunbird
Sunbirds and spiderhunters make up the family Nectariniidae of passerine birds. They are small, slender passerines from the Old World, usually with downward-curved bills. Many are brightly coloured, often with iridescent feathers, particularly ...
s. The genus name is derived from the Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
words ''chasme'', meaning "gaping", and ''anthos'', meaning "flower".[
* '' Chasmanthe aethiopica'' (L.) N.E.Br. (Chasmanthe, Cobra Lily) - Cape Province; naturalized in the Canary Islands, Madeira, continental Portugal, continental Spain, Balearics and the Greek islands.
* '' Chasmanthe bicolor'' (Gasp. ex Ten.) N.E.Br. - Cape Province; naturalized in California, Italy and Great Britain]
References
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: World Checklist Series
Iridaceae genera
Endemic flora of South Africa
Garden plants
Iridaceae
Taxa named by N. E. Brown
{{Iridaceae-stub