Nolletia jeanettae 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 : 19-21

5. Nolletia jeanettae P.P.J.Herman sp. nov. ( Fig. 8 )

Similar to N. rarifolia and N. ruderalis but N. jeanettae is a delicate plant reaching only about 0.2 m high, diffusely branched at the base, with solitary inflorescences at the ends of the branches, stems and lower leaf surfaces persistently appressed pubescent, margins ciliate, always with stipitate glands on the upper part of the stem and peduncle and no oil sacs on the involucral bracts.

Type :— SOUTH AFRICA. North-West: along R566 between Pretoria and Brits, south of De Wildt / Ga-Rankuwa, (QDS: 2527 DB Rustenburg), 14 September 2008, Bester 8494 (holotype PRE!, isotypes J, K, M, PRU, PUC, US, Z) .

Perennial herb with mostly vertical, sometimes horizontal rootstock, diffusely branched at base, erect to ascending, scattered leafy. Annual stems delicate, up to 0.2 m, sparsely branched, reddish purple at the base, green upwards, appressed pubescent, upper part of stem also stipitate-glandular. Leaves alternate, linearfiliform, up to 40 mm long, less than 1 mm broad, smaller upwards; lower surface appressed pubescent; upper surface glabrous; margins entire, ciliate; main vein sunken on upper surface; leaves slightly folded lengthwise; upper leaves sometimes also stipitate-glandular. Capitula heterogamous, disciform, 8(–10) mm in diameter, solitary, terminal, pedunculate. Peduncle up to 65 mm long, sparsely to densely stipitate-glandular, glabrous or sparsely appressed pubescent, with (0)1 or 2 bracts, bracts also stipitate-glandular. Involucre campanulate or cup-shaped, 8–10 mm in diameter. Involucral bracts in 3 rows, imbricate; outer bracts narrowly ovate, acute, 1.8–2.5 × 0.5–0.6 mm, green with very narrowly membranous, fimbriate margin, appressed pubescent; middle bracts narrowly elliptic or narrowly obovate, acute, 2.5–3.5 × 1 mm, central part green but narrower than in outer bracts, appressed pubescent, margins broadly membranous, purplish towards the apex, fimbriate; inner bracts narrowly obovate, acute, 3–4 × 1.0– 1.2 mm, with narrow, green, appressed pubescent, central part, margins broadly membranous, purplish towards apex, fimbriate. Receptacle epaleate, foveolate. Outer female florets about 11–15, in 1 row, fertile, filiform, about 1.0– 1.5 mm long, shorter than style branches, with an extended lobe on 1 side, with glandular hairs on tube and at apex; corolla pale yellowish, sometimes purplish at apex. Style 1.2–2.0 mm long, bifurcate; style branches slender, 0.5–1.0 mm, often with short, deltoid-penicillate tuft at apex, often purplish; stigmatic areas marginal, confluent at apex. Cypsela and pappus as in disc florets. Disc florets about 30–50, regular, bisexual, fertile; tubular below, tube 2.0– 3.5 mm long, widening slightly upwards, with 5 short, erect lobes, 0.5–1.0 mm long; corolla greenish at base, yellowish in middle portion, darker at apex (reddish or purplish); with glandular hairs on lower part of tube and some on corolla lobes. Anthers 5, 1– 2 mm long; with narrowly triangular apical appendage; base shortly calcarate, ecaudate. Style shortly exserted, 2–3 mm long, bifurcate; style branches broadly oblong, 0.6–1.0 mm long, with deltoid-penicillate apical appendages, often purplish; stigmatic areas in 2 separate lines along the margins, not reaching the apex. Cypsela brownish or dark purplish, obovoid, laterally compressed, skew to one side, 2.5–3.5 × 1 mm ( Fig. 1D ); covered with twin hairs, often unequal in length, apices of hairs acute to sometimes broadened; epicarpic cells oblong, arranged in regular rows ( Fig. 3A ). Pappus of barbellate bristles in 1 row, 2–3 mm long. Flowering time: August to January, with a peak from September to November.

Distribution and habitat: — Limpopo, North-West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal ( Fig. 6 ), occurring in savanna, in loam soil, black turf or clay, in full sun. The conservation status of this species is not currently known.

Discussion: —Similar to N. rarifolia and N. ruderalis but:

1. both N. rarifolia and N. ruderalis are erect herbs, up to about 0.5 m high, producing several simple, upright, unbranched stems from the perennial rootstock, branching upwards, more or less above the middle, into loose, corymbose inflorescences while N. jeanettae is a delicate plant reaching only about 0.2 m high, diffusely branched at the base, with solitary inflorescences at the ends of the branches;

2. the stems and lower leaf surfaces of N. jeanettae are persistently appressed pubescent and the leaves are ciliate, whereas in N. rarifolia the stems and leaves are glabrous to sparsely spreading pubescent and in N. ruderalis the stems and leaves are always glabrous;

3. N. jeanettae always has stipitate glands on the upper part of the stem and the peduncle, whereas in N. rarifolia and N. ruderalis there are only occasionally a few glandular hairs present;

4. there are no oil sacs on the involucral bracts of N. jeanettae as found on the involucral bracts of N. rarifolia nor are they white-punctate as the involucral bracts of N. ruderalis .

Not well represented in herbaria. A few old specimens were previously misidentified as N. arenosa . Only now recognised as a new species from the abundant material collected by S.P. Bester.

Etymology: —Named for my elder daughter Jeanetta.

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 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 6. Known geographical distribution of N. tenuifolia (̝) and N. jeanettae (●).

FIGURE 8. Scanned image of the holotype of N. jeanettae P.P.J.Herman(Bester 8494, PRE).