Callitriche compressa Brown (1912: 276)

Lansdown, Richard V., Glen, Rene & Hassemer, Gustavo, 2017, Notes on the genus Callitriche (Plantaginaceae) in South Africa, Phytotaxa 317 (3), pp. 219-225 : 220

Callitriche compressa Brown (1912: 276)

Lectotype (designated here):— SOUTH AFRICA. EASTERN CAPE PROVINCE: In mud in stagnant pool, Umbilo , 10 ft. altitude, 28 October 1912 [correctly it should read: 1911], M. Franks s.n., Wood, J.M. 11943, [protologue from Kew Bull. attached] [annotated Ex Herbario Natalensi Callitriche compressa N.E. Brown “fl. green]. (K000350084); isolectotypes: (NH0013002-0, PRE0508515-0, PRE0263581-0).

= Callitriche bolusiana Schönland & Pax in Engler (1921: 169), nom. nud.

= Callitriche bolusii Schönland & Pax in Marloth (1925: 141), nom. nud.

Description: —Plant apparently always terrestrial (but see discussion). Stems with a groove running along each of two opposite faces, creeping and rooting at lower nodes. Stem, leaf and axillary scales present. Leaves elliptic or spathulate, 3.0–10.0 × 1.0– 3.5 mm: petioles ≤ 2 mm, 3-veined, 1 central vein and 2 secondary veins originating near the base of the blade. Normally a male and female flower in one axil opposed by a solitary female, less often a male and female in each of a pair of axils and occasionally a solitary female flower in each of a pair of axils. Bracts lacking. Styles persistent, reflexed <0.5 mm. Filaments erect, ≤ 0.2 mm long. Anther reniform, 0.3–0.6 mm wide. Pollen yellow. Fruits on peduncles 0.1–0.2 mm long, somewhat wider than high and tapering toward the base, brown or blackish when mature, 0.6–7.5 (–8.0) mm × 0.6–0.7 mm, unwinged.

Ecology and distribution: — Callitriche compressa has been recorded from the coastal Provinces of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Eastern Cape and Western Cape in southern and eastern South Africa. It occurs on wet mud or sand on the margins of permanent rivers, such as a broad alluvial fan deposited by a stream as it entered a reservoir, a sand bank at the downstream end of a plunge pool formed by a waterfall and on thin soil over bedrock in a shaded forest river, or in seasonally inundated habitats such as a drying oxbow and on clay in a pond probably dug to provide material for road construction. 0–1200 m elevation.

Additional material studied: — KwaZulu-Natal: mud on streamlet bank, Dhlinza forest, Eshowe , 21 January 1963, R.G. Strey 4579 (K, PRE 741740) ; dense mat on forest floor in forest, on banks of Mshwati River, Karkloof forest near farm ‘ Twinstreams’ , Natal , 29º 17’ S, 30º 23’ E, 14 June 1989, J.O. Wirminghaus 908 ( NU) material not flowering but probably this ; ‘ chord’ [streambank in forest], on mud of river bank, Mshwati River Valley, Karkloof forest, Natal , 2 October 1989, J.O. Wirminghaus 1049 ( NU) ; growing on a thin layer of soil on bedrock in the Mshwati River channel, damp but not under water, with dense forest on both sides of the channel, L’Abri, Karkloof , 29º 17’ 24.38” S, 30º 23’ 07.29” E, 4 October 2016, R.V. Lansdown and E. Nel ; one terrestrial plant, exposed firm sand bar, downstream end of plunge-pool, Umbilo River, Paradise Valley Nature Reserve , 29º 50’ 06.19” S, 30º 53’ 41.15” E, 28 October 2016, R.V. Lansdown and R. Glen. Eastern Cape: under bushes in Featherstone’s Kloof near Grahamstown, 1700 ft or 1800 ft, 2 November 1890, H. Bolus 6688 ( BOL) ; Damp places, Grahamstown, Nov. ’90, S. Schönland s.n. ( GRA) ; “growing in a swampy place, Kloof between Featherstone’s Kloof and bottom of Woest Hill , near G.T. ( Grahamstown ), Albany District ”, 1350 ft., October 1892, S. Schönland 348 ( BOL, GRA [8 sheets], NH0005435-0, PRE0030227-0, STU) ; Perie Forest, King Williams Town , April 1893, H.G. Flanagan 1769 ( BOL, PRE 263579 ) ; stony /rocky soil, Grahamstown , November 1893, S. Schonland s.n. (annotated PRE 46783, PRE 263578) ; along streams, near Komgha, King Williams Town District , 1200ft. elev., February 1894, H.G. Flanagan 2220 ( GRA, PRE 30215 ) ; on sand, Ntafufu, Port St. Johns , 29 August 1969, R.G. Strey 8972 ( PRE 652239 ) ; rooted in drying mud at edge of dam, Besters Hoek, Somerset East , 25 Oct 1980, O.M. Hilliard & B.L. Burtt 13250 ( NU) ; broad expanse of mud exposed alongside the inflow stream to a small reservoir, Boschberg Municipal Nature Reserve, Somerset East , 32º 42’ 06.66” S, 25º 33’ 15.13” E, 9 October 2016, R.V. Lansdown 2016/3, A. & A. Hobson ( GRA) ; long, shallow pond probably created through extraction of gravel for road, mostly dry at the time of survey, Braystone’s Farm, Southwell, Bathurst District , 33º 26’ 06.81” S, 26º 36’ 49.50” E, 18 October 2016, R.V. Lansdown and R. Glen ; Shallow to deep oxbow in riparian woodland, generally dry or containing damp mud, but with standing water in one area, at the bottom of the hill below Pirie Mission, near King Williams Town , 32º 48’ 50.22” S, 27º 13’ 53.12” E, 14 October 2016, R.V. Lansdown, R., H. and M. Glen. Western Cape: In umbros. ad Silver River , 4000 ft. elev., 6 November 1894, F.R.R. Schlechter 5873 (G, K, GRA, NSW, PRE 263580) .