Hypoxis polystachya Welw. ex Baker

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Photo: Bart Wursten
Parking area Zovo Chipolo Trail, Nyika National Park

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Synonyms:	Hypoxis katangensis Nel Hypoxis multiflora Nel. Hypoxis orbiculata Nel Hypoxis pedicellata Nel Hypoxis subspicata Pax
Common names:
Frequency:
Status:	Native
Description:	Robust perennial herb to 75 cm tall. Rhizome vertical, 3–5 × 4–6 cm, subglobose or hemispheric with a flat base, or up to c. 8 cm long and ± cylindrical, with numerous stout contractile roots about the middle. Leaves (3)5–9(12), ± rigidly erect, becoming lax, usually conduplicate with narrowly funnel-shaped sheaths broadly membranous-hyaline on the margins; lamina increasing to c. 75 cm long, 0.5–2 cm wide (width measured when folded blades are spread apart and flattened), linear, gradually tapering to a narrowly acute apex, strongly many-ribbed with ribs ± spaced, thinly loosely pilose to densely spreading pilose-pubescent, more sparsely so on the adaxial (inner) surface, the hairs finely 2–8-armed (stellate), sometimes appressed silvery-strigose on young growth; outermost leaves reduced to membranous sheaths with or without small blades, the entire outer surface ± densely sericeous-lanate to glabrescent; pseudostem 4–20 cm long and up to 12 mm in diameter. Inflorescences 1–5(8), usually appearing with the leaves. Scapes up to c. 37(45) cm long, overtopped by the mature leaves, strongly flattened in cross-section, 2–5 mm wide, width reducing in steps as pedicels diverge, whitish sericeous to spreading pubescent particularly towards the apex and on the margins towards the base; bracts 7–40 mm long, subulate to linear-lanceolate; pedicels erect-ascending, the lower ones 5–25 mm long, the upper decreasing in length. Flowers 3–14(25) in a raceme-like ± cylindrical arrangement 3–13 cm long. Outer tepals 10–18 × 4–5 mm, lanceolate with ± involute margins, silvery strigose-sericeous abaxially, often drying greenish; inner tepals 10–12 × 5–8 mm, broadly elliptic, glabrous except for the abaxial midrib, the hairs unequally 3–6-armed (stellate) usually with one arm strongly developed. Filaments 1.3–1.6 mm long; thecae 3–4.5(5.7) mm long. Style 0.5–1(2.3) mm long; stigma 1–2(3.5) mm long. Capsule 4–8 × 3–6 mm, turbinate, 16- to 20-seeded. Seeds black and glossy, 1.2–1.7 mm in diameter, globose; testa papillose, the papilla minute varying from incipient dome-shaped undulations to sharply conical points, the cuticle smooth and shiny.
Notes:
Derivation of specific name:	polystachya: with many stalks, referring the multiple inflorescences the plants often display.
Habitat:	In montane grassland and high rainfall woodland.
Altitude range:	900 - 2250 m
Flowering time:
Worldwide distribution:	Angola, DRC, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia.
Mozambique distribution:	T
Growth form(s):
Endemic status:
Red data list status:
Insects associated with this species:
Spot characters:	Display spot characters for this species
Literature:	Burrows, J.E. & Willis, C.K. (eds) (2005). Plants of the Nyika Plateau Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 31 SABONET, Pretoria Page 309. (Includes a picture). Nordal, I. & Zimudzi, C. (2001). Hypoxidaceae Flora Zambesiaca 12(3) Pages 14 - 15.

Other sources of information about Hypoxis polystachya:

Our websites:

Flora of Burundi: Hypoxis polystachya
Flora of Malawi: Hypoxis polystachya
Flora of Zambia: Hypoxis polystachya

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Hypoxis polystachya
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Hypoxis polystachya
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Hypoxis polystachya
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Hypoxis polystachya
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Hypoxis polystachya
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Hypoxis polystachya
JSTOR Plant Science: Hypoxis polystachya
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Hypoxis polystachya
Plants of the World Online: Hypoxis polystachya
Tropicos: Hypoxis polystachya
Wikipedia: Hypoxis polystachya