''Strumaria chaplinii'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of 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 the appropriate s ...

of bulbous

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the family

Amaryllidaceae The Amaryllidaceae are a family of herbaceous, mainly perennial and bulbous (rarely rhizomatous) flowering plants in the monocot order Asparagales. The family takes its name from the genus ''Amaryllis'' and is commonly known as the amaryllis fa ...

, native to south-west Cape Provinces. It was first described in 1944 as ''Hessea chaplinii''.

Description

''Strumaria chaplinii'' is a very small plant. The upper leaf surfaces are hairy. The flowers are star-shaped, with

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 that have flat faces, unlike similar species such as ''

Strumaria discifera ''Strumaria discifera'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae, native to west and south-west Cape Provinces. It was first described in 1992. Description ''Strumaria discifera'' is similar to '' Strumaria chaplinii'', i.e ...

''. Like other species of ''Strumaria'', the flowers are borne in an

umbel In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...

on long

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 ...

Taxonomy

The species was first described as ''Hessea chaplinii'' in 1944 by

Winsome Fanny Barker Winsome Fanny Barker (23 September 1907 – 27 December 1994) was a South African botanist and plant collector noted for her work as Curator building the collection at the herbarium of the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, as well as her re ...

. It was transferred to ''Strumaria'' in 1994.

Distribution and habitat

''Strumaria chaplinii'' is native to the south-west Cape Provinces of South Africa. It grows in moist pockets at the base of granite rocks in coastal

fynbos Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean clim ...

References

chaplinii Flora of the Cape Provinces Plants described in 1944 {{Amaryllidaceae-stub