Boophone
| Boophone | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Inflorescence of Boophone disticha | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Amaryllidaceae |
| Subfamily: | Amaryllidoideae |
| Genus: |
Boophone Herb. |
| Species | |
|
See text |
|
| Synonyms | |
See text
Boophone is a genus of herbaceous, perennial and bulbous plants in the Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae.) It consists of two species distributed in tropical and southern Africa. It is closely related to Crossyne, a genus whose species have prostrate leaves.
Boophone is the single genus in subtribe Boophoninae, in the Amaryllideae tribe.
Boophoninaeare placed within Amaryllideae as follow:
These are phylogenetically related as follows:
Subtribe Amaryllidinae
Subtribe Boophoninae
Subtribe Strumariinae
Subtribe Crininae
The list of Boophone species, with their complete scientific name, authority, and geographic distribution is given below.
William Herbert wrote the name of this genus with three different orthographies: "Boophane" in 1821; "Buphane" and Buphone" in 1825, and he conserved "Boophone" in 1837. Several authors since then speculated about the etymology and associated orthography of each name, but a proposal was published in 2001 to conserve the first name and to take the later ones as synonyms. This proposal was accepted in 2002.
Larvae of the moth genera Brithys and Diaphone use Boophone as a food plant.
Boophone disticha is used in South African traditional medicine by the Zulus to induce hallucinations for divinatory purposes, and also for various mental illnesses. Its use, however, is limited by injuries that result from the plant's toxicity.
...
Wikipedia