Wurmbea kraussii Baker

Oosthuizen, D. & Balkwill, K., 2019, Wurmbea (Colchicaceae, Anguillarieae) in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, including the description of two new species *, South African Journal of Botany 127, pp. 117-123 : 122

3. Wurmbea kraussii Baker in J. Linn. Soc. Bot. 17: 437 (1878); Nordenstam in Notes Roy. Bot. Gard., Edinb. 36: 218 (1978).

Type: South Africa. KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg (2930): foot of Table Mountain , Sep 1840, Krauss 450 ( K000099990 –image!, lecto. designated by Nordenstam (1978); BM000911892 –image!; K000099986 – image!, isolecto.).

Corm oblong-ovoid to subglobose, 7–20 × 6–15 mm, tunics brown, forming a sheath around the firm underground neck, 10–80 mm long. Stem 30–150 mm long from the corm to the upper leaf, 3–5 mm in diam. Basal leaf solitary, usually erect, green, narrowly linear, 25–150 × 1.0–2.0 (− 2.5) mm, margin involute to make leaf appear subterete; base narrow, sheathing. Cauline leaves 1 or 2, spathaceous; lower cauline leaf inserted three quarters up the stem; upper cauline leaves usually reaching the inflorescence, 10–30(− 40) × (2.5–)3.0–7.0 mm, acuminate. Inflorescence spicate, 1–6(− 10)-flowered, rachis 10–35 mm long with flowers spaced 3–8 mm apart. Perianth: 5–12 mm long; tepals 6, stellately spreading, with 3–7 veins running from the tip to the base; white to pink-mauve-purple, sometimes speckled with small rectangular flecks; tube campanulate, 0.7–1.5 (− 2.0) mm long; lobes somewhat clawed basally 4–10 × 1.5–3.5 mm, oblong or elliptic-oblong to lanceolate-oblong, apically obtuse to subacute. Nectary distinctly raised, boat-shaped with an entire or shallowly bilobed obtuse free apex, 2–3 mm long, white or mauve-tipped or purplishmauve. Filaments white to pink-mauve-purple, straight, 1.5–5.0 mm long. Anthers sometimes maroon in younger flowers, turning golden yellow in mature flowers, oblong, 0.7–1.8 × 0.5–1.0 mm. Pistil: ovary green basally, purplish-pink apically and with age, oblong, markedly 3-angled, 3–8 mm long; styles white or light purple to pink, conical, subulate, 2–4 mm long; stigmas suberect, small, capitate. Capsule elliptic-oblong, 3-angled, 7–13 mm long including styles, 3–5 mm broad, greenish-brown, with suberect or somewhat spreading subulate styles 2–4 mm long. Seeds numerous, subglobose, 0.9–1.2 mm long, light brown, with minutely reticulate-foveate surface. Fig. 4 .

Distribution & ecology: Wurmbea kraussii has a distribution that extends from the Eastern Cape through the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal to Swaziland. Although W. kraussi has previously been noted as occurring in Mpumalanga, no specimen has been cited to verify this ( Fig. 4 ). A specimen was collected by H. Swart “alongside a stream near the farm Weltevreden ± 22 km east of Machadodorp [eNtokozweni]” in 1965 and the morphology of the nectary leaves no doubt that this specimen is indeed W. kraussii , thus establishing the distribution of W. kraussii in the province. In the Red List of South African Plants ( SANBI, 2017), the closest distribution for W. kraussii is western Swaziland, some 100 km to the south-east.

Phenology: Flowering period: July to December, but mostly September to October.

3.5. Additional specimens examined

South Africa. MPUMALANGA: 2530 (Lydenburg): eNtokozweni district, about 22 km east of Machadodorp [eNtokozweni], near the farm Weltevreden 369JT, alongside a stream (–CB), 10 Oct 1965, Swart sub. J 39346 ( J).

Figures

Fig. 4. Map of Mpumalanga, showing known sites for Wurmbea burrowsii ●, W. viridiflora ■ and W.kraussii ▲.