Cyanixia socotrana

Cyanixia socotrana
Babiana socotrana
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Iridaceae
Subfamily: Ixioideae
Tribe: Ixieae
Genus: Cyanixia
Goldblatt & J.C. Manning
Type species
Cyanixia socotrana
(J.D. Hooker) Goldblatt & J.C. Manning

Cyanixia socotrana (syn.: Babiana socotrana) is a perennial, herbaceous and bulbous plant species in the Iridaceae family endemic to Socotra. The genus name is derived from the Greek words Ixia, referring to the radially symmetrical flowers in the genus of that name, as well as cyanos, meaning "blue".[1]

It was known until 2003 as Babiana socotrana. However, this species differs from all other members of the genus Babiana in the shape and type of pollen grains, basic chromosome number, x=10, corms globose and of axillary origin, and the morphology of the seeds. For this reason was excluded from Babiana and referred to the new genus Cyanixia. Other Babiana species have a basic chromosome number of x=7, terminal corm ontogeny, and pear-shaped seeds.

Cyanixia socotrana was previously assigned to Babiana because of superficial similarities in morphology, including plicate leaves and blue flowers, thought at the time to be bilabiate, although now known to be actinomorphic and rotate. DNA sequence analysis using the chloroplast gene matK confirms that Babiana is a monophyletic assemblage, whereas B. socotrana is sister to the Lapeirousia/Savannosiphon clade of sub-Saharan Africa. The latter shares axillary corm ontogeny, together with the southern African Micranthus, Thereianthus, and Watsonia, in contrast to the more common situation in Crocoideae (including Babiana) in which the corm develops from the base of the flowering stem. The tropical African Zygotritonia, which also has axillary corm development, shares with Cyanixia a trisulcate pollen grain, but it differs markedly from that genus in its small, zygomorphic flower, undivided style, and basic chromosome number x=8. Cyanixia was described as a new monotypic genus of Crocoideae, probably most closely allied to Savannosiphon, also a genus with a single species.

References

  1. ^ Manning, John; Goldblatt, Peter (2008). The Iris Family: Natural History & Classification. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. pp. 118–120. ISBN 0-88192-897-6. 


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