Ferraria welwitschii Baker

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Habit
Miombo woodland
Kalumbila District
Nov 2025
Photo: Nick Wightman

Flower
Miombo woodland
Kalumbila District
Nov 2025
Photo: Nick Wightman

Habit
Miombo woodland
Chililabombwe District,
Nov 2025
Photo: Nick Wightman

Flower
Miombo woodland
Chililabombwe District
Nov 2025
Photo: Nick Wightman

Photo: Warren McCleland
Malundwe Hill, Solwezi

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Synonyms:	Ferraria hirschbergii L.Bolus Moraea aurantiaca Baker Moraea viscosa R.C.Foster
Common names:
Frequency:
Status:	Native
Description:	Plants (12)18-35 cm high . Stem exposed above sheaths of lower leaves; upper nodes and distal parts of internodes sticky, often with sand adhering . Leaves of flowering plants sheathing, occasionally with short blades shorter than sheaths; of vegetative plants (1)2, narrowly sword-shaped, straight or falcate, 1.5-3 mm wide, with visible main vein . Rhipidia 4- or 5-flowered; inner spathe 20-34 mm long, outer entirely sheathing, mostly half to two thirds as long as inner, 10-17 mm . Flowers on pedicels ± as long as spathes, lasting a single day, pale to dull yellow to buff (?also orange) with brown to dark red or dull green spots on limbs and distal part of claws, evidently odourless, tepals ascending, claws forming a cup, 7-9 mm deep, c. 7 mm wide at rim, limbs spreading to reflexed up to 40 degrees, margins crisped; nectaries dark brown, c. 1.5 × 2 mm, roughly in centre of claws; outer tepals 15-20 × c. 5 mm, inner 14-20 mm long. Stamens with filaments united in a column 5-7.5 mm long, free in upper 1-1.5 mm; anther thecae parallel or diverging basally, 1.5-2.5 mm long, slightly shorter after anthesis. Ovary usually exserted, oblong to narrowly ovoid, 2-3 mm long; style branches 1.5-2 mm long, dividing into diverging, fringed arms; stigmas terminal on style arms. Capsules globose-truncate, mostly 5-7 mm long, exerted from spathes, smooth or minutely warty. Seeds angular, rougly prismatic, 3 mm long, glossy, brown with pale, raised angles, approx. 5-sided, facet surfaces undulate to wrinkled .
Type location:	Angola
Notes:	Not listed in Figueiredo & Smith (2008).
Derivation of specific name:	welwitschii: named after the Austrian botanist, Friedrich Martin Welwitsch (1806-1872)
Habitat:	Open Miombo woodlands often in rocky ground and in fairly moist habitats including riverbanks and dambos.
Altitude range: (metres)
Flowering time:	Oct - Jan
Worldwide distribution:	Angola, DR Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe
Provinces:
Growth form(s):	Perennial.
Endemic status:
Red data list status:
Insects associated with this species:
Spot characters:	Display spot characters for this species
Literature:	Goldblatt, P. & Manning, J.C. (2011). Systematics and biology of the African genus Ferraria (Iridaceae: Irideae). Bothalia 41(1) Pages 1 - 40.

Other sources of information about Ferraria welwitschii :

Our websites:

Flora of the DRC: Ferraria welwitschii
Flora of Zambia: Ferraria welwitschii

External websites:

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