''Eucomis'' 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 ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae, native to southern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. Most species of this genus are commonly referred to as pineapple flowers or pineapple lilies. They are

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

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

s with basal rosettes of leaves and stout stems covered in star-shaped flowers with a tuft of green

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 ...

s at the top, superficially resembling a pineapple – hence the common names.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Eucomis'' was first published by Charles L'Héritier in 1789. The name ''Eucomis'' is of Greek origin, ''eu-'' meaning "pleasing" and ''kome'' "hair of the head", thus referring to the tuft of leaf-like

s that crown the

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

of the species in this genus. The name was first used by

Daniel Solander Daniel Carlsson Solander or Daniel Charles Solander (19 February 1733 – 13 May 1782) was a Sweden, Swedish naturalist and an Apostles of Linnaeus, apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Solander was the first university-educated scientist to set foot o ...

, who decided that Linnaeus's ''Fritillaria regia'' should be placed in a separate genus. However, Solander died before publishing the name, and was not mentioned by L'Héritier in his 1789 publication. Initially, three species were placed in ''Eucomis'': '' E. regia'', ''E. nana'' and ''E. punctata''. (The last two are now

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

s of ''E. regia'' and ''E. comosa'' respectively.)

Classification

''Eucomis'' is placed in the 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 ''Hyacinth (plant), Hyacinthus ...

of the family

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''. This family includes both ...

by those who use the

APG system The APG system (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system) of plant classification is the first version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy. Published in 1998 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, it was replaced by the improved ...

of plant classification, and in the family Hyacinthaceae by those who use more narrowly defined families. Using the subfamily Scilloideae, ''Eucomis'' is placed in the tribe Hyacintheae, subtribe Massoniinae, along with such genera as ''

Lachenalia ''Lachenalia'' is a genus of bulbous perennial plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae, which are usually found in Namibia and South Africa. Most of them have a dormancy period, but new roots will always grow every year. ''Lache ...

'', ''

Ledebouria ''Ledebouria'' is a genus of African bulbous perennial herbs in the Asparagus family, Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. Most members were previously part of the genus ''Scilla''. A number of species are grown by cacti and succulent enthusias ...

'', ''

Massonia ''Massonia'' is a genus (biology), genus of bulbous perennial plant, perennial flowering plants in the family (biology), family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae (also treated as the family Hyacinthaceae). It is native to southern Africa, and i ...

'' and ''

Veltheimia ''Veltheimia'' is a genus of perennial plants native to the Cape Provinces of South Africa in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae Scilloideae (named after the genus ''Scilla'', "squill") is a subfamily of bulbous plants within the f ...

''. The species can be divided into two groups. One consists of seven mainly short,

diploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Here ''sets of chromosomes'' refers to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, ...

species with 2''n'' = 2''x'' = 30

chromosome A chromosome is a package of DNA containing part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes, the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with nucleosome-forming packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells, the most import ...

s: ''E. amaryllidifolia'', ''E. bicolor'', ''E. grimshawii'', ''E. regia'', ''E. schijffii'', ''E. vandermerwei'' and ''E. zambesiaca''. The other consists of five mainly larger,

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

species with 2''n'' = 4''x'' = 60 chromosomes: ''E. autumnalis'', ''E. comosa'', ''E. humilis'', ''E. montana'' and ''E. pallidiflora''. The ploidy of ''E. sonnetteana'' is not known.

Species

The genus includes 13 accepted species.

Distribution and habitat

''Eucomis'' is

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

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 ...

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to 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 ...

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

and

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

. Species can be found in grassland, forest, swamps and on river banks, but are absent from the drier regions. The smaller species are more often found at higher elevations, on hilltops or other exposed places; the larger species favour less exposed habitats, such as damp gulleys and streamsides.

Cultivation

''Eucomis'' species are cultivated as

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 th ...

s. Most of the summer-flowering species will tolerate frost down to when dormant in winter, provided they are kept dry. They flower best if given both sun exposure and moisture in summer. ''Eucomis regia'' grows in winter and flowers in early spring. It needs

greenhouse A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...

cultivation in regions that, like Britain, have a maritime rather than a Mediterranean climate.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

* Pacific bulb society wik

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2706641 Scilloideae Flora of Southern Africa Asparagaceae genera