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Afrikaanse Inligting
Clandestine Spiderhead - Serruria rebeloi
Last Protea of the millenium has been named! John Rourke has named the Clandestine Spiderhead - Serruria rebeloi.*
Personally I am not in favour of naming plants after people. It is bad enough having to remember the Latin names, so surely some diagnostic or obvious feature should be the first choice. Thus Leucospermum harpogonatum was named after its distinct grapnel-like flowerheads. The only consolation about having a plant named after you is that you are not likely to forget the name (assuming that one can remember what the plant looks like), even if one might get confused with the pronounciation.*
Of course, one can debate the virtues of having the plant with
the smallest flowerheads in the family named after one. Or the kudos of having the most
inconspicuous and nondescript plant in the family bearing one’s title. Among the
consolations are that it could have been named after someone else (famous botanists have
stood on the plants in the past!); it is very distinct (with its unique female sex organs
it will not be sunk into another species in a few years time); it is distinct for a
culturally-taboo reason (imagine – its claim to fame might have been its grey leaves
or putrid odour); and, it has an acceptable name (what might John have called it
otherwise: hyperpedetes – "underfoot", gyno-sexo-pervertalis
– its distinctive feature, or even worse millennionomus or Y2Kensis or solusoccasusmillenniensis).
At least it has a respectable name (well I hope so anyway).
Despite the post-pollination style shedding (the carmine stylopodium remains) we do not know anything about pollination of this species. It does produce an average of one fruit per flowerhead, which must make it one of the more prolific seed bearers in the genus (with a 10-25% seed set).
If you want to bag Se rebe please contact Thys de Villiers at Boskloof near Napier. It helps to have an interest in Ericas and other plants as well, to benefit from Thys’s enthusiasm.
Tony Rebelo
* Please note that the correct pronunciation of Latin names requires you to say all the vowels individually – do not treat them as diphthongs. Thus Aloe is "Alo-e", macowanii is "mac-owan-i-i" and rebeloi is "rebelo-i".
PPS: If you know how to pronounce Rebelo, please tell me. If you cannot spell it, don’t worry, no one else does.
A celebratory drink of champagne after the naming of Serruria rebeloi
Nigel Forshaw, Val Charlton, Lyn McCallum, Steve Richardson, John Rourke, Ivan Massyn, Tony Rebelo, Thys de Villiers on the fram Boskloof near Napier. Colin Paterson-Jones was there too!
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