Boophone is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of herbaceous

Herbaceous

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

, perennial and bulbous plants in the Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae

Amaryllidaceae

Amaryllidoideae is the subfamily of flowering plants that takes its name from the genus Amaryllis. It is part of the family Amaryllidaceae, in order Asparagales...

, subfamily Amaryllidoideae). It consists of two species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 distributed in Tropical and Southern Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

. It is closely related to Crossyne, a genus whose species have prostrate leaves.

Species

The list of Boophone species, with their complete scientific name, authority, and geographic distribution is given below.

• Boophone disticha
  Boophone disticha
  Boophone disticha is a poisonous tropic and subtropic flowering plant endemic to Africa. Its common names in English are tumbleweed, Veld fan, and windball...
  
  (L.f.) Herb., Bot. Mag. 52: t. 2578 (1825). Distributed from Sudan
  Sudan
  Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
  
   to South Africa
  South Africa
  The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
  
  .
• Boophone haemanthoides F.M.Leight., J. S. African Bot. 13: 59 (1947). Distributed from Namibia
  Namibia
  Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
  
   to the Western Cape Province.

Associated insects

Larvae of the moth genera Brithys

Brithys

Brithys is a genus of moths of the Noctuidae family. It consists of one species.-References:**...

and Diaphone

Diaphone (moth)

Diaphone is a genus of moths of the Noctuidae family.-Species:* Diaphone delamarei Viette, 1962* Diaphone eumela * Diaphone lampra Karsch, 1894* Diaphone niveiplaga Carcasson, 1965* Diaphone rungsi Laporte, 1973...

use Boophone as a food plant.

Medicinal uses

Boophone disticha is used in South African traditional medicine by the Zulus to induce hallucinations for divinatory purposes, and also as a medicine to treat mental illness. The bulb extract has shown potential in vitro and in vivo effect against depression, possibly caused by a mixture of Boophone alkaloids.

Etymology

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.