Ethiopia is the home of many endemic animals and plants. In this issue, it is dealt with four species of endemic and near endemic flowers of Ethiopia.

Kniphofia isoetifolia, kniphofia insignis: Crinum bambusetum and Crinum abyssinicum. The first two are classified under the Family ASPHODELACEAE that includes plants with shizomes and characterized by having + tubular flowers and seeds covered with an aril making them dull black or gray. The remaining two are classified under the Family AMARYLLIDACEAE that includes plants characterized by having one to many flowers! with an umbel like infloresecence.

1. Kniphofia Isoetifolia

This species is first collected and known to science from “Gondar”. It occurs in over gazed hill tops and river banks, on steep rocky slops and montane grassland, sometimes in wet meadows with 2050 – 3650 m high in Tigray, Gondar, Gojam, Shewa upland, Arsi, Kefa, Gamo-Gofa Harrarge and Bale florstic regions It is not known elsewhere outside Ethiopia.

Its flowers are opening from top to downwards. And its penianth is colored with pale or bright yellow, orange or bright red; pendulous and cylindrical in shape with 30-42 mm long, widening at the mouth and constricted at the base. The leaves are linear, blue green and keeled. Its stamens and styles only shortly exerted up to 3-4 mm and stamens eventually withdrawn. The plants are often solitary or sometimes in groups of 5-6 stems with fibrous remains of leaves at the base.

2. Kniphofia Insignis

This species was first collected and known to science from “Arsi”. It occurs in water logged or flooded meadows between 2450-2850 m high in Shewa upland and Arsi floristic regions. It is not known elsewhere outside Ethiopia.

The plant slender, solitary but unlike Kisoetifolia, no fibrous remains of leaves at the base. The leaves are linear, blue green and keeled; its bracts are white and cuspidate. The perianth possesses similar feature with the former except it is white in color and 24-28 mm in length. The stamens and style are only shortly exerted up to 3 mm; and stamens usually withdrawn. These flowers with white perianth and pale ink bunds grow in water logged meadows.

3. Crinum Bambusetum

It is a newly discovered Crinum species in Western Ethiopia from the Benishangul-Gumuz National Regional State, formely in Western Wollega floristic region.

Its inflorescence umbellate with 20-42 flowers; having leaves erect to sub erect forming a district false stem; 35-90 cm long and 6-20 cm broad with green color. The perianth is segmented 6-7 cm long and its tube erect in early bud stage then curved becoming straight again at anthesis and is radically symmetrical; tube of 10-12 cm long having reddish tinged color at the outer surface and darker along the keel. Its filaments articulate in a radical symmetrical arrangement about 5 cm long with straight yellowish anthers. The style, which is reddish apically, becomes curved up to 14 cm long when receptive and elongating during flower development.

4. Crinum Abyssinicum

The plant was first collected in the wild from Gondar and was given the name C. abyssinicum in 1850 The plant is found only in Ethiopia and adjacent areas in Eritrea and North East Somalia in water logged valley grasslands and swampy depressions or long stream banks, sometimes in Tallow fields on black lay and loam soils at 1650-3300 m high. Otherwise it is known in Gondar, Gojam, Wello, Shewa uplands, Arsi, Wollega, Sidamo, Bale and Harrarge regions.

It has two to six flowers in the inflorescence and is sessile (rarely sub – sessile) with the buds red to pink; color fading during development making flowers pure white or sometimes tinged pink, only rarely with a pink dorsal steak. Its perianth segments broadly lanceolate forming a bell reflexed in outer parts during anthesis. And, its filaments are white declinate 4 to 6 cm of uneven length in the same flower with anthers 6-10 mm long, curved black to brown while the styles are white and as long as the perianth segments. The leaves are also glaucous to gray-green, erect, and linear to narrowly lanceolate.

Source:

1. Edwards S, Sebsebe Demissew & Hedberg, 1(eds) 1997 (et.al). (ed), Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea Vol 6 Addis Ababa – Ethiopia
2. Sebsebe Demissew & Nordal (2002). Crium bambusetum, a new species of Amaryllidaceae from North East Africa Kew Bulletin 57(2) = 465-469