Kniphofia
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Kniphofia (Template:IPAc-en,<ref>Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607</ref> Template:IPAc-en,<ref>Template:Cite LPD</ref><ref name=Coom94>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:IPAc-en<ref name=John72>Template:Cite book</ref>) is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Asphodelaceae, first described as a genus in 1794.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> All species of Kniphofia are native to Africa. Common names include tritoma, red hot poker, torch lily and poker plant.
Description
The genus has herbaceous and evergreen species. The herbaceous species and hybrids have narrow, grass-like leaves Template:Convert long, while evergreen species have broader, strap-shaped foliage up to Template:Convert long. All plants produce spikes of upright, brightly coloured flowers well above the foliage, in shades of red, orange and yellow, often bicoloured.<ref name="RHSAZ">Template:Cite book</ref> The flowers produce copious nectar while blooming and are attractive to bees and nectar-feeding birds such as sugarbirds and sunbirds.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the New World, they may attract nectarivores such as hummingbirds and New World orioles.
Taxonomy
The genus Kniphofia was first erected by Conrad Moench in 1794.<ref name=IPNI_331220-2>Template:IPNI</ref> Moench considered the species he was describing (now Kniphofia uvaria) sufficiently different from Carl Linnaeus's genus Aletris and from Veltheimia to warrant a new genus.<ref name=Moen94>Template:Cite book</ref> The name honours Johann Hieronymus Kniphof, an 18th-century German physician and botanist.<ref name=John72p59>Template:Cite book p. 59.</ref>
Species
Template:As of, Plants of the World Online accepted 73 species, including two hybrids.<ref name=POWO_331220-2>Template:Cite POWO</ref>
- Kniphofia acraea Codd - Cape Provinces of South Africa
- Kniphofia albescens Codd - Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal
- Kniphofia albomontana Baijnath - Lesotho, South Africa
- Kniphofia angustifolia (Baker) Codd - KwaZulu-Natal
- Kniphofia ankaratrensis Baker - Madagascar
- Kniphofia baurii Baker - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Provinces
- Kniphofia benguellensis Welw. ex Baker - Angola, Zambia
- Kniphofia bequaertii De Wild. - Zaire, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda
- Kniphofia brachystachya (Zahlbr.) Codd - Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Provinces
- Kniphofia breviflora Harv. ex Baker - KwaZulu-Natal, Free State
- Kniphofia bruceae (Codd) Codd - Cape Province
- Kniphofia buchananii Baker - KwaZulu-Natal
File:Kniphofia buchananii 253218620.jpg Kniphofia buchananii File:Kniphofia drepanophylla, Jardin exotique de Roscoff.jpg Kniphofia drepanophylla, Jardin exotique de Roscoff File:Kniphofia laxiflora 115169314.jpg Kniphofia laxiflora File:Kniphofia northiae 12440449.jpg Kniphofia northiae File:Kniphofia uvaria einzeln.JPG Kniphofia uvaria File:Kniphofia foliosa.jpg Kniphofia foliosa - Kniphofia caulescens Baker - Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province, Free State
- Kniphofia citrina Baker - Cape Province
- Kniphofia coddiana Cufod. - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Province
- Kniphofia coralligemma E.A.Bruce - Limpopo
- Kniphofia crassifolia Baker - Limpopo
- Kniphofia drepanophylla Baker - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Provinces
- Kniphofia dubia De Wild - Zaire, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola
- Kniphofia ensifolia Baker - South Africa
- Kniphofia × erythraeae Fiori - Eritrea (K. pumila × K. schimperi)
- Kniphofia evansii Baker - KwaZulu-Natal
- Kniphofia fibrosa Baker - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Provinces
- Kniphofia flammula Codd - KwaZulu-Natal
- Kniphofia fluviatilis Codd - South Africa
- Kniphofia foliosa Hochst. - Ethiopia
- Kniphofia galpinii Baker - KwaZulu-Natal, Eswatini, Mpumalanga
- Kniphofia goetzei Engl. - Tanzania
- Kniphofia gracilis Harv. ex Baker - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Provinces
- Kniphofia grantii Baker - Zaire, Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Malawi
- Kniphofia hildebrandtii Cufod. - Ethiopia
- Kniphofia hirsuta Codd - Lesotho, Cape Provinces
- Kniphofia ichopensis Schinz - KwaZulu-Natal
- Kniphofia insignis Rendle - Ethiopia
- Kniphofia isoetifolia Hochst. - Ethiopia
- Kniphofia latifolia Codd - KwaZulu-Natal
- Kniphofia laxiflora Kunth - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Provinces
- Kniphofia leucocephala Baijnath - KwaZulu-Natal
- Kniphofia linearifolia Baker - Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, South Africa
- Kniphofia littoralis Codd - KwaZulu-Natal
- Kniphofia marungensis Lisowski & Wiland - Zaire
- Kniphofia mulanjeana S.Blackmore - Mt. Mulanje in Malawi
- Kniphofia multiflora J.M.Wood & M.S.Evans - Eswatini, South Africa
- Kniphofia nana Marais - Zaire
- Kniphofia northiae Baker - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Provinces
- Kniphofia nubigena Mildbr. - Sudan
- Kniphofia pallidiflora Baker - Massif de l' Ankaratra in Madagascar
- Kniphofia paludosa Engl - Elton Plateau in Tanzania
- Kniphofia parviflora Kunth - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Provinces
- Kniphofia pauciflora Baker - KwaZulu-Natal
- Kniphofia porphyrantha Baker - Lesotho, Eswatini, South Africa
- Kniphofia × praecox Baker - Cape Provinces (K. bruceae × K. uvaria)
- Kniphofia princeae (A.Berger) Marais - Zaire, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi
- Kniphofia pumila (Aiton) Kunth - Zaire, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea
- Kniphofia reflexa Hutch. ex Codd - Nigeria, Cameroon (endangered)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Kniphofia reynoldsii Codd - Tanzania, Zambia
- Kniphofia rigidifolia E.A.Bruce - Mpumalanga
- Kniphofia ritualis Codd - Free State, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal
- Kniphofia rooperi (T.Moore) Lem. - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Provinces
- Kniphofia sarmentosa (Andrews) Kunth - Cape Provinces
- Kniphofia schimperi Baker - Ethiopia, Eritrea
- Kniphofia splendida E.A.Bruce - Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, northeastern South Africa, Eswatini
- Kniphofia stricta Codd - Cape Provinces, Lesotho
- Kniphofia sumarae Deflers - Ibb Mountains of Yemen
- Kniphofia tabularis Marloth - Cape Provinces
- Kniphofia thodei Baker - Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal
- Kniphofia thomsonii Baker - Zaire, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia
- Kniphofia triangularis Kunth - Lesotho, South Africa
- Kniphofia typhoides Codd - Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Mpumalanga
- Kniphofia tysonii Baker - KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Provinces, Eswatini
- Kniphofia umbrina Codd - Eswatini
- Kniphofia uvaria (L.) Oken - Cape Provinces; naturalized in Mexico, North Carolina, Spain, Oregon, Turkey, Washington State, St. Helena, California
- Kniphofia vandeweghei Fischer & Ackermann - Rwanda
Cultivation
Several species of Kniphofia are cultivated as garden plants, valued for their architectural properties. These include K. galpini, K. northiae, K. rooperi and K. thomsonii.
In addition to the species, many named cultivars of mixed or uncertain parentage have been selected for garden use. The following have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:-<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Div col
- 'Barton Fever' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Bees' Sunset' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Brimstone' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Buttercup' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Coral Flame' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Fiery Fred' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Incandesce' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Innocence' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Jonathan' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Moonstone' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Nobilis' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Penny Rockets' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Primrose Upward' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Rich Echoes' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Royal Standard' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Safranvogel' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Samuel's Sensation' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Sunningdale Yellow' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Tawny King' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Timothy' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Toffee Nosed' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- 'Wrexham Buttercup' <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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Gallery
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Kniphofia planted near Canary Wharf in London
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Kniphofia 'Shenandoah'
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Kniphofia along the Ohlone Greenway trail in El Cerrito, California
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Terete raceme of Kniphofia shown together with a cross section of a peduncle. A: Inflorescence; B: Terete peduncle; C: Cross section of a terete peduncle