''Strumaria truncata'' (English common name: Namaqualand snowflake) 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 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 amaryl ...

, native to the

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 ...

of South Africa. It is widely distributed in the northwest of the Cape Provinces, and the most common of the '' Strumaria'' species found there. It forms small clumps of

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 ...

s which produce twisted leaves. Its flowers, which are sometimes pendulous, vary in colour from white to deep pink. The pink forms were once treated as a separate species, ''Strumaria rubella'', and have also been called var. ''rubella''. The species was first described by

Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin (16 February 172726 October 1817) was a scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany. Biography Born in Leiden in the Netherlands, he studied medicine at Leiden University, then moved first to P ...

in 1792.

Gallery

Strumaria truncata 15514201.jpg, Wild specimen of white-flowered variety with nodding inflorescence,

Knersvlakte Nature Reserve The Knersvlakte Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in the Knersvlakte region of South Africa's Western Cape province. It covers an area of in the Matzikama Municipality, north of Vredendal and Vanrhynsdorp. The reserve, which was established on ...

File:Strumaria truncata 1DS-II 1-8703-01.jpg, Lower portion of plants, showing two bicoloured, inflated, collar-like basal sheaths File:Icones plantarum rariorum Plate 357 Strumaria truncata adj.jpg, Illustration from von Jacquin's ''Icones plantarum rariorum'' (Vol. 2, Plate 357, 1792)

References

truncata Endemic flora of the Cape Provinces Plants described in 1792 Taxa named by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin {{Amaryllidaceae-stub