''Massonia'' 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 ...

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 ...

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 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 ...

, 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 ...

(also treated as the family Hyacinthaceae). It is native to southern Africa, and is found in localities such as

Namaqualand Namaqualand ( Khoikhoi: "Nama-kwa" meaning Nama Khoi people's land) is an arid region of Namibia and South Africa, extending along the west coast over and covering a total area of . It is divided by the lower course of the Orange River int ...

with hot and dry summers, being dormant in summer and growing during winter. The genus ''Whiteheadia'' has been merged into ''Massonia''. It is classed as a

cryptophyte The cryptomonads (or cryptophytes) are a superclass of algae, most of which have plastids. They are traditionally considered a division of algae among phycologists, under the name of Cryptophyta. They are common in freshwater, and also occur ...

. The genus is named for

Francis Masson Francis Masson (August 1741 – 23 December 1805) was a Scotland, Scottish botanist and gardener, and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Kew Gardens’ first Botanical expedition, plant hunter. Life Masson was born in Aberdeen. In the 1760s, he w ...

, a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

, gardener, and

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

’ first

plant hunter Botanical expeditions (sometimes called "Plant hunting") are scientific voyages designed to explore the flora of a particular region, either as a specific design or part of a larger expedition. A naturalist or botanist would be responsible for ide ...

Description

''Massonia'' grows from underground

s whose outer tunic is pale brown and papery or leathery. Two relatively broad leaves appear at the same time as the flowers, spreading out on either side, sometimes lying flat on the ground. The flowers are borne in a

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, 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 ...

, which may be short and held at ground level. There may be a "tuft" of green bracts at the top of 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 ...

. Individual flowers are pale in colour, white, or with green, yellow or pink tones. They are bell-shaped or somewhat tubular, with 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 joined at the base forming a short or long tube. 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 more-or-less erect, with their filaments joined to the end of the tube formed by the tepals and also to each other, forming a small cup. The seeds are dull black. The species ''

Massonia depressa ''Massonia depressa'', the hedgehog lily, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae. It is a bulbous geophyte native to the Cape Provinces and Free State of South Africa.gerbil The Mongolian gerbil or Mongolian jird (''Meriones unguiculatus'') is a rodent belonging to the subfamily Gerbillinae. Their body size is typically , with a tail, and body weight , with adult males larger than females. The animal is used in s ...

(''

Gerbillurus paeba The hairy-footed gerbil (''Gerbillurus paeba'') is a species of rodent found in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitats are dry savanna, temperate shrubland, hot deserts, sandy shores, and urban area ...

'' and ''

Desmodillus auricularis The Cape short-eared gerbil (''Desmodillus auricularis'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is the only species in the genus ''Desmodillus''. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. Its natural habitats are ho ...

''). Very few species of plant are rodent-pollinated.

Systematics

The genus name was attributed to

Carl Peter Thunberg Carl Peter Thunberg, also known as Karl Peter von Thunberg, Carl Pehr Thunberg, or Carl Per Thunberg (11 November 1743 – 8 August 1828), was a Sweden, Swedish Natural history, naturalist and an Apostles of Linnaeus, "apostle" of Carl Linnaeus ...

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. It honours the Scottish botanist and gardener

. A molecular phylogenetic study showed ''Massonia'' to be monophyletic, but also that the two species of the genus ''Whiteheadia'' were placed separately at the base of the ''Massonia'' clade, rendering ''Whiteheadia''

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

. Accordingly, Manning et al. transferred ''W. bifolia'' and ''W. etesionamibensis'' to ''Massonia''. ''Massonia'' is the type genus of the subtribe Massoniinae which is placed in the tribe

Hyacintheae Hyacintheae is a flowering plant tribe 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 fam ...

(or the tribe Massonieae in the subfamily Hyacinthoideae for those who accept the family Hyacinthaceae). It is most closely related to the genus ''

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 ...

''.

Species

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

accepted the following species: *''

Massonia amoena ''Massonia'' is a genus of bulbous perennial flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae (also treated as the family Hyacinthaceae). It is native to southern Africa, and is found in localities such as Namaqualand with hot a ...

'' *''

Massonia angustifolia ''Massonia'' is a genus of bulbous perennial flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae (also treated as the family Hyacinthaceae). It is native to southern Africa, and is found in localities such as Namaqualand with hot a ...

'' *'' Massonia bakeriana'' *'' Massonia bifolia'' *'' Massonia calvata'' *''

Massonia dentata ''Massonia'' is a genus of bulbous perennial flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae (also treated as the family Hyacinthaceae). It is native to southern Africa, and is found in localities such as Namaqualand with hot a ...

'' *''

Massonia echinata ''Massonia'' is a genus of bulbous perennial flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae (also treated as the family Hyacinthaceae). It is native to southern Africa, and is found in localities such as Namaqualand with hot a ...

'' *'' Massonia etesionamibensis'' *'' Massonia gypsicola'' *'' Massonia hirsuta'' *'' Massonia inaequalis'' *'' Massonia jasminiflora'' *'' Massonia latebrosa'' *''

Massonia longipes ''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 ...

'' *'' Massonia luteovirens'' *''

Massonia mimetica ''Massonia'' is a genus of bulbous perennial flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae (also treated as the family Hyacinthaceae). It is native to southern Africa, and is found in localities such as Namaqualand with hot a ...

'' *'' Massonia obermeyerae'' *'' Massonia pseudoechinata'' *'' Massonia pustulata'' *'' Massonia pygmaea'' *'' Massonia roggeveldensis'' *'' Massonia saniensis'' *'' Massonia sempervirens'' *'' Massonia sessiliflora'' *'' Massonia setulosa'' *'' Massonia tenella'' *'' Massonia thunbergiana'' *'' Massonia triflora'' *'' Massonia wittebergensis''

Cultivation

''Massonia'' species have been described as "essentially plants for the collector". They require the protection of an

alpine house 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 ...

bulb frame 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 ...

in regions subject to frosts. Well-drained soil and a sunny situation are considered essential. They can be propagated by seed, flowering after at least two to four years., p. 786

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q147748 Asparagaceae genera