Pauridiapygmaea Snijman & Kocyan (2013: 29)

Snijman, Deirdre A., 2014, A taxonomic revision of the genus Pauridia (Hypoxidaceae) in southern Africa, Phytotaxa 182 (1), pp. 1-114 : 24

2. Pauridiapygmaea Snijman & Kocyan (2013: 29) . Fig. 8

Bas.:— Helonias minuta Linnaeus (1771: 225) ≡ Fabricia minuta (L.) Thunberg (1779: 25) ≡ Hypoxis minuta (L.) Linnaeus (1782: 197) ≡ Ianthe minuta (L.) Williams (1901: 292) ≡ Spiloxene minuta (L.) Fourcade (1932: 76) . Type (neotype designated by Snijman & Kocyan 2013: 29):— SOUTH AFRICA. [Cape], (LINN! No. 427.12 [image]) ( McNeill etal. 2012: Art. 7.4)

Plants dwarf, 1.0– 6.5 cm tall. Corm somewhat broadly conical, covered with heavy, fibrous tunics, base flat, 8–15 mm diam., often surrounded by a narrow rim; fibres thick, pale to dark brown, firmly attached to basal rim, converging distally into short acute tips; roots spreading from just above basal rim. Cataphylls membranous, 7–26 mm long. Leaves 2–3, shortly sheathing above base, erect to spreading, linear to narrowly lanceolate, 10–55 × 1.0– 2.5 mm, canaliculate to 3-angled in cross section, shiny green, firm, margin entire. Inflorescences 2 or more in flower at a time, 2(3)-flowered, shorter to longer than leaves; scape 3–13 × ca. 1 mm, laterally compressed, whitish green; bracts 2(3), clasping pedicels at base, linear, 5–11× ca. 1 mm, pale green. Flowers pedicellate, stellate, white, backed with green, sometimes red-tipped in outer whorl, often sweetly scented; pedicels suberect to ca. spreading, remaining so in fruit, 4–30 × ca. 0.5 mm, green or rarely pale reddish green; tepals 6, narrowly elliptical, 3.5–5.5 mm long, outer 2.0– 2.5 mm wide, minutely mucronate, inner 1.5–2.5 mm wide. Stamens 6, slightly arched around stigma, equal, white; filaments inserted on a broad, raised ovary dome away from tepals, up to 1.5 mm long, shorter than anthers; anthers sagittate, latrorse, ca. 1.5–2.5 × ca. 0.7 mm, basal lobes spreading, ca. 0.3–1.0 mm long, connective broader than thecae when fresh, notched at apex, often with a yellow patch proximally; pollen white. Ovary shortly obconical, ca. 1.5–2× 2 mm, 3-locular; style 0.4–1.5 mm long; stigma branches suberect, broadly triangular, 0.6–3.0 × 0.4–1.2 mm, more or less equalling stamens, pale green or white, densely papillose, basal lobes spreading, up to 1 mm long. Capsules shallowly cup-shaped, ca. 1.5–2 × 2.0 mm, dehiscence circumscissile. Seeds spherical, ca. 0.46 × 0.40 mm; testa black to golden brown, bluntly echinate in ca. 11–14 widely spaced, longitudinal rows, outer periclinal cell wall surrounded by a flat, finely pitted rim. Flowering period: late-April–June.

Distribution and habitat:— Pauridia pygmaea is endemic to remnant patches of lowland renosterveld in the northwestern and southwestern Cape, extending from Pakhuis Pass, east of Clanwilliam and Porterville, southwards to the Cape Peninsula and the flats near Gordon’s Bay ( Fig. 7B ). Although growing singly, the plants are often found en masse, especially after fire. Favoured habitats are seasonally damp, clay or gravel flats. Currently the species is treated in the South African Red List as Endangered ( Raimondo et al. 2009).

Diagnostic features:—In addition to its dwarf habit, Pauridia pygmaea is most easily recognized by the broadly conical corm, which has a hard, conspicuously broad, flat base that forms a narrow rim around the circumference. Apart from green on the tepals’ backs and often a yellow spot on the anthers, the flowers are mostly entirely white and often sweetly scented. Although not always evident in the dried state, the anthers are sagittate, each with a broad connective, often exceeding the thecae in width, which tapers upwards to a notched apex. Such broad anthers are often found in species of Hypoxis , but in Paurida they are unique to P. pygmaea .

Because of the uniquely shaped corm and anthers, Nel (1914b) placed P. pygmaea (as Ianthe minuta ) in a somewhat isolated position within the genus. The species, however, appears to be closely allied to the recently described P. etesionamibensis with which it shares a characteristically raised, broad apical dome. As discussed under that species, the distribution pattern of P. etesionamibensis and P. pygmaea , confined to the Gariep centre and Western Cape respectively, is a disjunction often repeated by sister species in several other families— Amaryllidaceae , Asphodelaceae , Iridaceae and Tecophilaeaceae .

Nomenclature:— Pauridia pygmaea was previously known as Spiloxene minuta , but since the epithet minuta was already occupied in Pauridia, Snijman & Kocyan (2013) assigned the name pygmaea to this species.

Additional specimens examined:— SOUTH AFRICA. Western Cape: 2 miles [3.2 km] Nof Pakhuis (QDS: 3219 AA), 18 May 1935, Salter 5395 ( BOL!) ; Darling Flora Reserve (QDS: 3318 AD), 24 May 1956, Winkler 87 ( NBG) !; damp ground above Porterville Dam (QDS: 3318 BB), 12 May 1964, Kellerman 19 ( NBG!) ; Riverlands Reserve , Wof Malmesbury (QDS: 3318 BC), 23 May 2008, Koopman s.n. ( NBG 216616 !) ; Camp Ground , near Rondebosch (QDS: 3318 CD), June, H. Bolus 7297 ( BOL!) ; pone Rondebosch (QDS: 3318 CD), 1890, MacOwan 3096 (SAM!) ; Cape Town (3318CD), 8 June 1847, Prior s.n. ( PRE 30239!, ZT!) ; Camp Ground (QDS: 3318 CD), 2 June 1945, Salter 8933 ( NBG!) ; Camp Ground, prope Cape Town (QDS: 3318 CD), 22 May 1892, Schlechter 743 ( ZT!) ; Cape Town, Rondebosch Common (QDS: 3318 CD), 9 May 2007, Snijman 2107 ( NBG!) ; Camp Ground (QDS: 3318 CD), 17 May 1896, Wolley Dod 1079 ( BOL!) ; Paarl , gravelly flats (QDS: 3318 DB), 26 April 1946, Barker 4025 ( NBG!) ; Stellenbosch, vlakte tussen Duthiereservat en Bosbouwfakulteit (QDS: 3318 DD), 14 June 1963, Bos 49 ( NBG!) ; Stellenbosch flats (QDS: 3318 DD), June 1960, Cheadle 812 ( PRE!) ; Stellenbosch (QDS: 3318 DD), April 1917, Duthie 465 ( BOL!) ; Stellenbosch, Eerste River Terrace (QDS: 3318 DD), 10 May 1939, Garside 4938 ( BOL!) ; J.N. Briers Louw Reserve , Wof Paarl (QDS: 3318 DD), 2 June 2008, Snijman 2224 ( NBG!) ; Voëltjiesdorp (QDS: 3318 DD), 17 April 1964, Taylor 5746a ( NBG!, PRE!) ; Elandsberg Private Nature Reserve (QDS: 3319 AC), 4 June 2000, Parker 452 ( NBG!) ; Elandsberg Private Nature Reserve (QDS: 3319 AC), 2 July 2012, Parker s.n. ( NBG!) ; Wellington, Elandsberg Private Nature Reserve (QDS: 3319 AC), 13 May 1999, Parker sub Snijman 1691 ( NBG!) ; Die Bos, adjacent Luandle, Sof N2, 1 km Eof Strand (QDS: 3418 BB), 15 May 1998, Helme 1452 ( NBG!) . Inexact locality: Eikenboom am Bergrivier, June, Zeyher 1665 ( BOL!) .

Figures

FIGURE 7. Distribution maps for A, Pauridia etesionamibensis from Namibia and Northern Cape, South Africa; B, P. pygmaea from Western Cape, South Africa.

FIGURE 8. Pauridia pygmaea. A, whole plant; B, scape apex, bracts and pedicels; C, stamen in dorsal view; D, style and stigma branches; E, capsule with seeds; F, seed. Scale bar A = 10 mm; B = 4 mm; C–E = 2 mm; F = 0.5 mm. Drawn by Tracey Nowell from Parker 452 (NBG!).