''Empodium'' is a genus 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
Hypoxidaceae
Hypoxidaceae is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots.
The APG IV system of 2016 (unchanged from the 1998, 2003, and 2009 versions) recognizes this family. The family consists of four genera totalling ...
, first described in 1866. It grows from a small
corm
A corm, bulbo-tuber, or bulbotuber is a short, vertical, swollen underground plant stem that serves as a storage organ that some plants use to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat ( perennation).
The word ...
which produces lance-shaped or pleated and sometimes hairy, star-shaped flowers and leaves with long in Autumn season. The genus is native to winter-rainfall areas 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 ...
,
Eswatini
Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its ...
,
Lesotho
Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked as an enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest mountains in Southern Africa. It has an area of over and has a populatio ...
, and
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and e ...
.
[Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]
/ref>[
# '' Empodium elongatum'' (Nel) B.L.Burtt - Lesotho, Eswatini, Lesotho
# '' Empodium flexile'' (Nel) M.F.Thomps. ex Snijman - ]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 ...
# '' Empodium gloriosum'' (Nel) B.L.Burtt - Cape Province
# '' Empodium monophyllum'' (Nel) B.L.Burtt - KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is loca ...
, Eswatini
# '' Empodium namaquensis'' (Baker) M.F.Thomps. - Cape Province
# '' Empodium plicatum'' (Thunb.) Garside - Cape Province
# '' Empodium veratrifolium'' (Willd.) M.F.Thomps. - Cape Province
References
External links
Wisley Alpine Log
Asparagales genera
Flora of Southern Africa
{{Asparagales-stub