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Aristea compressa

Buchinger ex Baker (1877)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Monocots Order: Asparagales Family: Iridaceae Genus: Aristea

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Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Plants 30–100 cm tall.

Stems: Flowering stems compressed and 2–winged.

Roots: Fibrous root system.

Leaves: Leaves simple. Leaves in a basal fan-like arrangement, up to ½ as long as stems, 8–18 mm wide, cauline leaves smaller than basal ones. Blades linear. Margins entire. Veins parallel. Sessile. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in many branched, open panicles, spathes dry–membranous, with a raised brown midvein, becoming transparent toward margins. Flowers bisexual (perfect), actinomorphic. Tepals pale to dark blue, greenish abaxially, up to 12 mm long, up to 6 mm wide, inner ones slightly larger than outer ones. Stamens 3, up to 6.5 mm long. Ovary inferior, 3-carpellate, 3-celled, 2–3 mm long; ovule placentation axile; style up to 7 mm long, 3-lobed apically.

Fruit: Capsules subglobose; obtusely trigonous; 5–6 mm long. Seeds ca. 8 per cell; angular.

Ploidy:

Habitat:

Elevation Range: ca. 1,130 m.

Historical Distribution

Images

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Uses and Culture

USES

  • Yes

Natural History

Statewide Status

Naturalized

Island Status

Hawai'i Naturalized

Dispersal Agents


Pollinators

Specimens

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Bibliography

Name Published In: J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 16: 111 (1877)

Other References

Wagner et al. 1990:1445 (H [as A. gerrardii]); Herbarium Pacificum Staff 1999:4 (NEWNAT/H [as Aristea cf. compressa]); Staples et al. 2003:13 (A. cf. compressa misapplied = A. gerrardii); Goldblatt & Manning 2020/POWO 2025 (Syn. A. gerrardii = A. compressa)

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Locality Habitat Basis of Record Description Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
1 Aristea compressa About 15-16 miles outside Hilo on the Saddle Road Small naturalized population. Preserved_Specimen Flowers blue. Sheet 2 of 2 (first is 581979). Stemmermann, R.L. 6647 Hawaii BISH 1980-04-16
2 Aristea compressa Hilo Forest Reserve, Waterhole Spring Rd N of highway, at 12.8 km marker of Saddle Roadside; cultivated in montane wet forest, montane disturbance community. Preserved_Specimen Iris-like plant. Palmer, R.E. 30023 Hawaii BISH 1997-07-23
3 Aristea compressa Between Volcano House & superintendent's residence Preserved_Specimen Flowers blue. Stemmermann, R.L. 6648 Hawaii BISH 1980-04-21
4 Aristea compressa Near upright Rd, Volcano Recently naturalized on sunny hard packed lava cinders & rock. Preserved_Specimen Degener, O. 33566 Hawaii BISH 1975-05-08
5 Aristea compressa 15 - 16 miles out of Hilo on Saddle Road. Small naturalized population. Also seen sparingly in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Flowers blue Preserved_Specimen Stemmermann, R.L. 6647 Hawaii BISH 1980-04-16
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