''Eucomis comosa'', the pineapple flower, pineapple lily or wine eucomis, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals 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 ...

in the asparagus

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Asparagaceae Asparagaceae, known as the asparagus family, is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots. The family name is based on the edible garden asparagus, '' Asparagus officinalis''. Those who live in the temperate ...

(subfamily

Scilloideae Scilloideae (named after the genus '' Scilla'', "squill") is a subfamily of bulbous plants within the family '' Asparagaceae''. Scilloideae is sometimes treated as a separate family Hyacinthaceae, named after the genus '' Hyacinthus''. Scilloidea ...

). A

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, a ...

bulb In botany, a bulb is structurally a short 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 du ...

ous

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

used as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

, it is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found els ...

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 ...

. The white to purple flowers appear in summer and are arranged in a spike (

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the sh ...

), topped by a "head" of green leaflike bracts.

Description

''Eucomis comosa'' is a

perennial plant A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

, growing from a large

, which is often purple in colour. The leaves form a basal rosette, and are long by wide, with a smooth, slightly undulating margin. The leaves usually have purple spots and may have an overall purple tinge; var. ''striata'' has purple stripes. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...

, a

, appears in summer (late July or early August in the UK) and is borne on a stem ( peduncule) tall. Individual flowers have stalks (

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

) long. The

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s are whitish to purple, the ovary always purple. Most plants have a pleasant coconut-like scent. The inflorescence is topped by a head (coma) of bracts, often purple spotted or tinged like the leaves. The overall effect is of a miniature pineapple plant (''Ananas comosus''), though in fact the two species are not closely related.

Taxonomy

The species was first described by

Maarten Houttuyn Maarten Houttuyn or Houttuijn (1720 – 2 May 1798) Latinised as Martinus Houttuyn, was a Dutch naturalist. Houttuyn was born in Hoorn, studied medicine in Leiden and moved to Amsterdam in 1753. He published many books on natural history, e.g. ...

in 1780, as ''Asphodelus comosus''. The specific epithet ''comosus'' (shared by the

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centurie ...

, ''Ananas comosus'') means "tufted". In 1929, transferred the species to ''

Eucomis ''Eucomis'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae, native to southern Africa. Most species of this genus are commonly referred to as pineapple flowers or pineapple lilies. They are bulbous perennials wit ...

''. It is one of a group of larger

tetraploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than one pair of (homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes, where each set contains ...

species of ''

'', with 2''n'' = 4''x'' = 60.

Distribution and habitat

''Eucomis comosa'' is native to the east

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 ...

and the province of

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 ...

in South Africa. It is found in rocky ground at elevations of around .

Cultivation

''Eucomis comosa'' is an ornamental plant with numerous

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

s, varying in colour from forms with white flowers and little or no purple on the leaves, to forms with deeply coloured leaves. Described as "surprisingly hardy" in the UK, down to , it needs a sheltered spot in full sun, and a protective mulch in winter when grown where frosts occur. In the UK, the cultivar 'Sparkling Burgundy', with reddish purple leaves, has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (No ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

Gallery

File:Eucomis comosa 004.JPG, Mature flower File:Eucomis comosa 002.JPG, Flower of paler form File:Gardenology.org-IMG 0016 rbgm10dec.jpg, Purple cultivar File:Eucomis comosa (pink flowers at top).jpg, Pink flowers at the top File:Eucomis comosa (flower buds with crown).jpg, Flower buds with green crown File:Eucomis comosa (mature flowers).jpg, Mature flowers

References

External links

*
''Eucomis comosa''
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q5406177 Scilloideae Flora of the Cape Provinces Flora of KwaZulu-Natal Plants described in 1780