Its Good Friday today and what better way to celebrate than with another stunning fynbos friday. I know you are all on holiday but this is up for you anyway, for you to come back to on Tuesday.
Happy Easter!
As you can see, today we have a bright red, spiky-looking flower growing among the fynbos in a dry rocky area. I was running up in the Kistenbosch area a while back and it caught my eye as I was up above the contour paths. A stunner, I thought I should find out more about it and give it a Fynbos Friday post at some point. Here is the vital info, from plantzafrica.
Description
Tritoniopsis triticea is a winter-growing, deciduous, bulbous plant that grows 500-900 mm high. The rootstock is a deeply buried corm that is shaped like a flattened sphere, and is covered with tunics of coarse fibres. Leaves are linear, three veined, with a long cylindrical false petiole, and are usually dry at flowering time. The upper leaves are thread-like, dry and brown.
The scarlet flowers are in a dense spike and appear mainly in late summer to autumn (Jan.-Apr.). The perianth tubes are 250-300 mm long, the dorsal tepal is the longest at ± 15 mm long, the others slightly shorter, ± 12 mm long. The flower colour varies from pink to red depending on the amount of shade received-those in the shade have darker red flowers while those in the sun are light red to pinkish.
Flower spike
The fruit is a capsule containing several light, spongy, irregularly shaped seeds.
Tritoniopsis triticea may be confused with Disa ferruginea, the red cluster disa, as they both have dense spikes of vivid red flowers at the same time of the year. But it is easy to tell them apart-the individual flowers of D. ferruginea are distinctly disa-like with spurred hoods.
Distribution and habitat
It occurs naturally on rocky granite and sandstone slopes in the Western Cape, from the Cape Peninsula and the Porterville Mountains to Mossel Bay. On Table Mountain it is frequent in dry, stony ground on the upper slopes and plateaux.
Ecology
Various agents, depending on the flower type, pollinate the flowers of Tritoniopsis. Bees pollinate the short-tubed species, whereas the long-tubed species are pollinated by a range of other pollinators. The long-tubed, pink-flowered species are pollinated by long-proboscid flies; T. nervosa with its long-tubed, fragrant cream-coloured flowers is pollinated by moths; and the long-tubed, red-flowered species, such as T. triticea, are mainly pollinated by sunbirds, but are very likely also visited by the Table Mountain Beauty butterfly, Aeropetes tulbaghia. The light, spongy seeds are dispersed by the wind. Porcupines eat the corms.
Derivation of name and historical aspects
Tritoniopsis means resembling the genus Tritonia and triticea means of wheat. Tritoniopsis belongs in the Iridaceae, commonly known as the iris family. There are 29 species in this genus and they are all endemic to the Cape Floral Kingdom.
Another beauty that defies the status that Fynbos is boring. Have a great Easter weekend and chat next week again.
