Publications

SYNOPSIS OF THE GENUS LEDEBOURIA ROTH (HYACINTHACEAE) IN SOUTH AFRICA
S. Venter Herbertia 62: 85-155 (2008). International Buld Society

The genus Ledebouria Roth belongs to the family Hyacinthaceae (Dahlgren et al. 1985). The distribution of the genus includes the African Continent, India and the Island Nossi-Bé on the northwestern coast of Madagascar (Fig. 1). The centre of diversity for the genus is in the Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu/Natal Provinces of the Republic of South Africa. Roth described the genus Ledebouria in 1821 with Ledebouria hyacinthina Roth, from India, as the type species. This species was transferred to the genus Scilla L. and provided the basionym for the largest section of Scilla namely section Ledebouria (Baker, 1870). Later Jessop (1970) reinstated the genus Ledebouria whilst revising the genus for South Africa. The first revision of Ledebouria was by Baker (1870) in his monograph of Scilla, section Ledebouria and the genus Drimiopsis. This was followed by a revision of the herbaceous capsular gamophyllous Liliaceae (Baker, 1870a). The most recent revision of Ledebouria was by Venter (1993), again only for South Africa with some notes on species further to the north.