Massonia visseriae (P.E.Barnes) Mart.

Martínez-Azorín, Mario, Pinter, Michael, Crespo, Manuel B., Alonso-Vargas, María Ángeles & Wetschnig, Wolfgang, 2018, Massonia visseriae (Asparagaceae, Scilloideae): rediscovery of a neglected species of Neobakeria and its transfer to Massonia, Phytotaxa 334 (1), pp. 70-74 : 71-73

Massonia visseriae (P.E.Barnes) Mart. -Azorín, M.Pinter, M.B.Crespo, M.A.Alonso & Wetschnig comb. nov.

Basionym:— Neobakeria visseriae Barnes (1933: 72) . Fig. 1 .

Type:— SOUTH AFRICA. Western Cape. Clanwilliam (3218): On a Klip Koppie ca. 5 miles from Lambert’s Bay, Clanwilliam Div. (-AB), May 1931 [in flower], H. A. Visser sub BOL 19616 (holotype BOL 140472!, available at http://plants.jstor.org/stable/viewer/10.5555/ al.ap.specimen.bol140472). Note:— A herbarium collection at Kew ( K 000257133) is identified in pencil as isotype of Neobakeria visseriae . It was collected near Lambert’s Bay by Visser sub BOL 19616, and Visser wrote in the label that leaves are minutely scabrous, what would fit in general terms with the protologue of N. visseriae . The study of this collection, however, evidences the necessity to exclude it from the type material of N. visseriae , as the collection was named by Visser herself as “ Massonia latifolia ?” and was collected in July 1932. Furthermore, the plant in the voucher shows a much larger size and some floral characters not fitting the protologue, it indeed belonging to the Massonia depressa aggregate. Therefore, the collection at Kew should be disregarded as original material.

Description based on living material:—Deciduous geophyte. Bulb ovoid to subglobose, 1.5 − 3 × 1 − 3.5 cm, with white, fleshy bulb scales covered by pale brown, papery outer tunics. Leaves 2, synanthous, opposite, appressed to the ground, ovoid to lanceolate, longitudinally striate, with a very short apicule at the apex, limb 3 − 14 × 2.5 − 8 cm, with narrow, membranous, minutely papillose margins; adaxial side green, with 0 − 50 elongated emergences per cm 2, up to 2 mm in length, with fascicles of unequally elongated and narrowly conical trichomes, 0.2 − 1 mm long; abaxial side smooth, green; petiole 1 − 5 cm long. Inflorescence a dense, subcapitate raceme, up to 2 − 4 cm long with up to 50 flowers, shortly overtopping ground level. Bracts narrowly obovate-lanceolate, attenuate at the apex, 12 − 14 × 3 − 5 mm, green in the upper half with white entire membranous margins and base, glabrous, minutely papillate on margins. Pedicels at anthesis 10 − 13 mm long. Flowers pentacyclic, trimerous. Perigone long and narrowly tubular, not distinctly widening at the end of the tube formed by 6 white tepals; free segments 6 − 7 × 1 − 1.5 mm, entire, white, straight and erect in bud, spreading to slightly reflexed at anthesis, neither inrolled nor with a distinct sigmoid curve at the base; perigone-filaments tube 14 − 17 × 1.5 − 2 mm, narrowly cylindrical, not widening in the upper portion, with the mouth showing strongly convex sides, giving the appearance of having 6 gibbosities, the ovary deeply included in the tube. Stamens 6. Filaments white, long-attenuate, 9 − 12 mm long, spreading at anthesis and unequal in length, the outers being longer, distinctly connate at the base for 2 − 3 mm above the perigone segments; anthers oblong, dark blue, 1.2 − 1.6 × 0.4 − 0.6 mm when closed, dorsifixed, with blue pollen. Gynoecium tricapelar, syncarpic, obclavate. Ovary conical to suboblong, pale green to yellow, 3 − 4 × 1 − 1.2 mm, gradually tapering to the style. Style white, gradually tapering into the apex, erect, 12 − 17 mm long at anthesis. Capsule ovate in lateral view, trigonous with blunt edges in apical view, ca. 6 − 8 × 4 − 6 mm. Seeds globose, black, ca. 1.8 × 1.5 mm, smooth.

Eponymy:—The specific epithet ( visseriae ) honours the collector of the type material, Miss H.A. Visser.

Phenology:— Massonia visseriae mostly flowers in May and June in the wild.

Habitat:— Massonia visseriae is found in rock pockets with shallow sandy soil in rocky outcrops; the surrounding vegetation is classified as Leipoldtville Sand Fynbos (FFd2); the region is characterised by winter rainfall peaking from May to August, with a mean annual precipitation of 260 mm and 3 − 4 days of frost per year ( Mucina & Rutherford 2006).

Distribution:—This species is known to us only from a single population in the surroundings of Lambert’s Bay. Although it seems to be a rare species, only collected twice after the original description, further studies are needed to evaluate its conservation status and distribution.

Taxonomic relationships:— Massonia visseriae shows a combination of morphological characters that facilitates its recognition as a distinct species. The leaves with elongated pustules bearing fascicles of unequal trichomes (sometimes plants with smooth glabrous leaves occur in the same population); the flowers with narrowly cylindrical perigone-filaments tube, not widening at the apex and with six gibbosities at the mouth of the tube; the spreading perigone segments; the unequal filaments that are distinctly connate above the perigone; the blue anthers and pollen; and the obclavate gynoecium with the style shortly overtopping the perigone filaments-tube, allow clear distinction of the species.

Massonia heterandra ( Isaac 1939: 729) Jessop (1976: 426) resembles M. visseriae regarding the unequal length of the stamens and the pustulate leaves, but the former differs by the isodiametric emergences with short trichomes on top, perigone-filaments tube only about 8 mm long, the filaments connate above the perigone for less than 1 mm, the style clearly exceeding the perigone-filaments tube and the usually pinkish colour of flowers and gynoecium, among other characters. Furthermore, M. heterandra occurs at high elevations in the SW Cape Mountains.

Massonia pseudoechinata Mart. -Azorín, M.Pinter & Wetschnig in Martínez-Azorín et al. (2015b: 124) differs from M. visseriae by the leaves with scarce to numerous small isodiametric emergences with a declinate, smooth trichome; larger bracts; longer flower pedicels; flowers with strongly reflexed and inrolled perigone segments bearing a distinct sigmoid curve at the base; filaments shortly connate above perigone; and larger capsules ( Martínez-Azorín et al. 2015b). Other species such as M. bakeriana Pinter et al. (2015: 52) , M. dentata Martínez-Azorín et al. (2014a: 203) , M. roggeveldensis Mart. -Azorín et al. (2015b: 122), or M. tenella Sol. ex Baker (1870: 389) differ from M. visseriae by a distinct combination of characters ( Baker 1870; Pinter et al. 2015; Martínez-Azorín et al. 2014a, 2015b).

Additional specimens studied:— SOUTH AFRICA. Western Cape. Clanwilliam (3218): Lambert’s Bay (-AB), Clanwilliam C. P., 13 May 1963, H. Hall s.n. ( NBG76417 !) ; Clanwilliam (3218): ca. 4.5 km E of Lambert’s Bay, on gravel road to Vredendal (-AB), 32 m elev., shallow sandy soils on rock ledges and crevices, 23 July 2016, M. Martínez-Azorín, M. B. Crespo, M. A. Alonso, J. L. Villar, A. Vicente, J. Moreno & A. Terrones MMA1480 ( ABH74263 !, GRA!) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Massonia visseriae (P.E.Barnes) Mart.-Azorín et al. in habitat E of Lambert’s Bay (type locality) on 23 July 2016 (A, B) and in cultivation from the type locality grown at the University ofAlicante on 25 October 2017 (C–G).A. Plant in fruit showing longitudinally striate leaves with elongated pustules with trichomes; B. Plants with smooth and pustulate leaves cooccuring; C. Elongated emergences with trichomes of different lengths; D. Inflorescence, lateral view; E. Inflorescence, apical view; F. Flowers, lateral view; G. Dissected flowers, lateral view. Scale bars, C: 0.5 mm; D–G: 1 cm.