Nolletia annetjieae P.P.J.Herman, 2013

Herman, Paul P. J., 2013, Cypsela morphology in the genus Nolletia (Asteraceae, Astereae) and a revision of the genus, Phytotaxa 122 (1), pp. 1-44 : 38-40

12. Nolletia annetjieae P.P.J.Herman sp. nov. ( Fig. 14 )

Similar to Nolletia chrysocomoides but with fewer and narrower leaves and circular epicarpic cells on cypsela surface scattered and arranged in pairs, each pair with one small twin hair between them. Also similar to Nolletia rarifola but cypselae of that species with oblong epicarpic cells and with dark oil sacs on involucral bracts.

Type:— SOUTH AFRICA. Northern Cape: Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, 6 km NE of Gharagab Wilderness Camp , (QDS: 2520 AA Mata Mata), 16 May 2010, Koekemoer 3901 (holotype PRE!, isotypes K, PRU, US, WIND) .

Iconography:— Van Rooyen et al. (2001, Fig. p. 195, as N. arenosa ).

Sparsely to scattered leafy, sometimes almost leafless, virgate or caespitose suffrutex, rarely a small shrub, from woody, vertical rootstock, (0.25–)0.3–0.6(–1) m high. Stems wiry, simple or sparsely branched, greenish or yellowish brown at base, herbaceous and green upwards; glabrous to sparsely appressed pubescent, more densely so at tips and below capitula. Leaves alternate, sparsely set, held close to stem, sessile, linear-filiform, lower leaves (7–)10–20(–40) × (0.2–)0.5(–1.0) mm, decreasing in size upwards; apex acute; margin entire; glabrous or sparsely to densely appressed pubescent on both surfaces. Capitula heterogamous, disciform, 8– 10 mm in diameter, arranged in few-headed, loose corymbs or rarely solitary, terminal. Involucre campanulate. Involucral bracts imbricate, in 3 or 4 rows, green, often tinged purplish, persistent and recurved in old inflorescences; outer row mostly narrowly ovate or narrowly triangular to narrowly elliptic, 1.3–2.2 × 0.3–1.0 mm, apex acute to acuminate, with fimbriate margins, appressed pubescent; second row varying from narrowly elliptic to narrowly oblong or narrowly ovate to narrowly obovate, 2–3 × 0.5–1.0 mm, apex acute, with narrow membranous, fimbriate margin, appressed pubescent; third row mostly narrowly obovate, but also narrowly elliptic to narrowly oblong, 2.1–4.0 × 0.8–1.0 mm, apex acute, with membranous, fimbriate margin, appressed pubescent; inner row narrowly obovate to narrowly elliptic, 3.2–4.1 × 0.5–1.0 mm, apex acute to acuminate, with membranous, fimbriate margin, central part appressed pubescent. Receptacle epaleate, foveolate. Outer female florets 13–20, in 1 row, fertile, filiform; tube 1.0– 1.5 mm long, shorter than style furcation, with numerous glandular hairs; corolla pale yellow, sometimes purplish at apex. Style 1.5–3.0 mm long, bifurcate; style branches elliptic, 0.5–1.0 mm long, apex rounded; stigmatic areas marginal, confluent at apex. Pappus and cypsela as in disc florets. Disc florets 26–43, regular, bisexual, fertile; tubular at base, tube 2–3 mm long, widening slightly after ± 1 mm but still tubular, then widening further upwards towards lobes, lobes 5, 0.5–1.0 mm long; with glandular hairs around first widening and few glandular hairs on lobes; corolla yellow or sometimes upper part of tube and lobes purplish. Anthers 0.6–1.6 mm long, with narrowly ovate apical appendages; bases shortly calcarate, ecaudate; filament collars with thickened cell walls. Style 1.5–3.5 mm long, bifurcate; style branches linear, 0.5–1.0 mm long; stigmatic areas marginal, with deltoid-penicillate apical appendages. Cypsela honey-coloured, shiny, narrowly obovoid, laterally compressed, often skew to 1 side, 1.5–2.5 × 0.5–1.0 mm ( Fig. 1K ); surface with scattered, circular to elliptic epicarpic cells arranged in pairs, each pair with 1 short twin hair between them ( Figs. 2H , 3E, F ), apices of twin hairs acute, slightly subequal in length. Pappus of caducous, barbellate bristles, 2.0– 3.2 mm long. Flowering time: from December to August, with a peak from January to May.

Distribution and habitat:— Namibia, Botswana, North-West (doubtful locality), Northern Cape ( Fig. 15 ), growing in sand. The conservation status of this species is not currently known but judging from the number of specimens in herbaria, probably LC (Least Concern).

Discussion:— Similar to N. chrysocomoides but distinguished by the long, simple twigs with very few and very narrow leaves and by the circular epicarpic cells scattered and arranged in pairs, with a single, short twin hair between each pair. Also very similar in appearance to N. rarifolia but without dark oil sacs on involucral bracts and cypselae with paired circular epicarpic cells as opposed to oblong epicarpic cells in N. rarifolia .

Note: —The plant described by Van Rooyen et al. (2001) as N. arenosa (= N. chrysocomoides ) is most probably N. annetjieae as all the specimens in PRU collected by Van Rooyen , previously identified as N. arenosa , were re-identified as this species. Van Rooyen et al. (2001) regarded N. arenosa as endemic to the southwestern Kalahari.

Etymology:— Named for my younger daughter Annetjie.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Cypselae of Nolletia species as seen under the stereomicroscope: (A) N. gariepina (Warren 78, PRE); (B) N. tenuifolia (Giess 10863, PRE); (C) N. ciliaris (Jacot Guillarmod 377, PRE); (D) N. jeanettae (Bester 8534, PRE); (E) N. welmaniae (Winter 7649, PRE); (F) N. rarifolia (Van Hoepen 1825, PRE); (G) N. ruderalis (Compton 27385, PRE); (H) N. vanhoepeniae (Koekemoer 3899, PRE); (I) N. zambesica (Maguire 1693, PRE); (J) N. chrysocomoides (Merxmüller & Giess 3579, PRE); (K) N. annetjieae (Van Rooyen 3714, PRE). Photographs by P.P.J. Herman.

FIGURE 2. Scanning electron micrographs of cypsela features in Nolletia: (A) obovoid cypsela of N. gariepina (Dinter 3577, PRE); (B) oblong epicarpic cells arranged in regular rows and twin hairs on the cypsela of N. tenuifolia (Dinter 7889, PRE); (C) oblong epicarpic cells arranged in regular rows and twin hairs with acute apices on the cypsela of N. gariepina (Zietsman & Zietsman 794, PRE); (D) oblong epicarpic cells arranged in regular rows and twin hairs with broadened apices in cypsela of N. annemarieae (Moss & Jacobsen K180, PRE); (E) obovoid cypsela in the dried state of N. chrysocomoides showing the ‘pocked’ surface (Germishuizen 7763, PRE); (F) circular epicarpic cells each with a twin hair on the cypsela of N. vanhoepeniae in the dried state (De Beer B5, PRE); (G) circular epicarpic cells each with a twin hair, in N. vanhoepeniae in the rehydrated state (De Beer B5, PRE); (H) paired circular to elliptic epicarpic cells with one twin hair between each pair, scattered over the cypsela surface in N. annetjieae in the dried state (Leistner 1581, PRE). Photographs by P.P.J. Herman.

FIGURE 3. Light micrographs of cypsela surfaces of: (A) N. jeanettae illustrating the oblong epicarpic cells arranged in parallel rows after rehydration (Bester 8494, PRE); and (B) N. ruderalis (Vander Schijff 2041, PRE), higher magnification; (C) N. chrysocomoides showing the circular epicarpic cells after rehydration (Wiss 2553, PRE); (D) N. zambesica (Merxmüller 1966, PRE) showing the twin hairs arising from the apical part of the circular epicarpic cells after rehydration; (E) N. annetjieae after rehydration showing the paired circular to elliptic epicarpic cells scattered over the surface, each pair with one twin hair between them (Koekemoer 3901, PRE); (F) N. annetjieae showing the twin hairs arising from two (paired) circular epicarpic cells (Van Rooyen 3714, PRE). Scanning electron micrographs illustrating the different outer female florets of Nolletia species: (G) filiform female floret in N. ciliaris (Koekemoer 1062, PRE); (H) short ray in the outer female floret of N. gariepina (Jensen 208, PRE). Photographs by P.P.J. Herman.

FIGURE 14. Scanned image of the holotype of N. annetjieae P.P.J.Herman(Koekemoer 3901, PRE).

FIGURE 15. Known geographical distribution of N. annetjieae. The grey dot represents a doubtful locality.