Pyrrorhiza
Genus; 1 species.
Region: Sierra de la Neblina, Lost World"; a massive sandstone tepui, between southern Venezuela and Brazil.
Habitat: high-altitude, in peat bogs, rocky crevices, or wet, nutrient-poor sandy meadows at the summit of the mountain.
Content: phenylphenalenones. Use: botanical interest as a rare, paleo-endemic species.
BotanyHerb: perennial, cormiferous herb (grows from a bulb-like storage organ).
Root: emerge from a corm and are notably bright red or orange-red internally.
Stem: contracted stem at the base (forming the corm) and an erect flowering scape that carries the inflorescence above the leaves.
Leaves: basal, distichous (arranged in two vertical rows); unifacia; narrow, sword-shaped (ensiform), and relatively stiff.
Inflorescence: terminal cluster described as a thyrse or a branched cyme; sparsely tomentose (covered in fine hairs) or glandular-pubescent.
Flowers: small and zygomorphic (bilaterally symmetrical; six tepal; possess staminodes (sterile stamens) alongside one or three fertile stamens.
Fruits: dry, loculicidal capsule; trigonous (three-angled) and splits open at maturity.
Seeds: small; numerous; winged or longitudinally striated to assist with dispersal in the windy, high-altitude environment.
Would you like me to look for information on any other rare members of the
Haemodoraceae family, or perhaps more details on the Sierra de la Neblina region?