Pauridia linearis (Andrews) Snijman & Kocyan (2013: 28)

Snijman, Deirdre A., 2014, A taxonomic revision of the genus Pauridia (Hypoxidaceae) in southern Africa, Phytotaxa 182 (1), pp. 1-114 : 71-72

19. Pauridia linearis (Andrews) Snijman & Kocyan (2013: 28) . Fig. 3E

Bas.:— Hypoxis linearis Andrews (1801 : t. 171) ≡ Hypoxis stellata var. linearis (Andrews) Baker (1878: 101) ≡ Ianthe linearis (Andrews) Salisb. ex Williams (1901: 292) ≡ Spiloxene linearis (Andrews) Garside (1936: 268) . Type (lectotype designated by Snijman & Kocyan 2013: 28):—(illustration in) Andrews (1801: t. 171)

Plants 10–40 cm tall. Corm somewhat globose, 6–19 mm diam., fibreless or sometimes softly fibrous, mostly encircled by roots; fibres, if present, free from basal disc; roots thick, with felt-like epidermis. Cataphylls membranous, up to 60 mm long. Leaves 3–7, sheathing up to 50 mm long from base, spreading, often unilaterally, linear, 75–300 × 1.5–2.7 mm, canaliculate, shiny green, firm-textured, margin with minute, widely spaced, recurved, multicelluar teeth or entire. Inflorescences 1or 2 in flower at a time, up to 6 when in fruit, 1-flowered, shorter than leaves; scape up to 40 × 0.5–2 mm, somewhat laterally compressed; bracts 2, filiform, hardly clasping pedicel, 2.5–6.0 × 0.5 mm, colourless. Flower pedicellate, stellate, cadmium orange or yellow, centre usually with a small reddish brown eye, backed with a broad median green stripe, outer whorl usually whitish-edged and reddish brown-streaked on margins, unscented; pedicel suberect, spreading somewhat horizontally in fruit, 37–170 × 0.7–1.0 mm, subterete, reddish; tepals 6, narrowly to broadly lanceolate, 18–32 mm long, outer 3.5–11.0 mm wide, prominently mucronate, inner 2.5–7.0 mm wide. Stamens 6, spreading widely, straight to curved outwards, subequal; filaments inserted on ovary rim, 1.0– 2.5 mm long, much shorter than anthers, deep reddish brown, rarely pale yellow; anthers linear-oblong, latrorse, 6–10 × 0.5–1.0 mm, basal lobes ca. 0.5 mm long, yellow; pollen yellow. Ovary subcylindrical to narrowly obconical, 5–10 × 1.5–3.5 mm, 3-locular; style ca. 0.5–1.0 mm long, yellow; stigma branches suberect to spreading, oblong-lanceolate, 2.5–5.1 × 0.7–1.0 mm, up to ca. half as long as stamens, often unequal, dark reddish brown, rarely yellow, densely papillose. Capsule obconical, slightly curved, up to 16 × 4 mm, dehiscence circumscissile. Seeds depressed-ellipsoid, ca. 0.8 × 0.7 mm; testa brownish black, of densely arranged isodiametric cells, outer periclinal walls almost fully hemispherical. Flowering period: July–September.

Distribution and habitat:— Pauridia linearis is narrowly endemic to the Atlantic Coast, Western Cape, between Duiker Island near St. Helena Bay in the north and the coastal flats inland of the Blouberg in the south ( Fig. 31B ). Plants grow in full sun in shallow, well-drained, sandy soils overlying exposed limestone or low, granite rocks, often in rock crevices and occasionally on flat to slightly undulating stabilized dunes. Populations of scattered plants are localized in open patches surrounded by sparse, low strandveld. This species is currently Red-Listed as Vulnerable due to the relentless spread of coastal housing between Vredenburg and Cape Town ( Raimondo et al. 2009) although a few populations are protected in the West Coast National Park.

Diagnostic features:—Both the linear leaves, which often have widely spaced, minute, recurved teeth on the margins, and the solitary flowered inflorescence, characterized by two, filiform bracts, suggest that Pauridia linearis is sister to P. serrata . Unlike P. serrata it has larger flowers, with longer (18–32 mm versus 7–16 mm) and often much broader tepals (up to 11.0 mm versus 4.5 mm), and widely spreading stamens which occasionally curve outwards. Those of P. serrata are only slightly spreading and remain straight or slightly incurved at anthesis. In addition, the style and stigma of P. linearis are short, seldom more than half as long as the stamens, whereas in P. serrata these range most often from a little more than half to as long as the stamens. The flowers vary from cadmium orange to sulphur yellow and usually have a dark reddish brown centre, if not at the base of the tepals or filaments then at least on the style; only rarely are the flowers concolourous. These markings, associated with the hopliine beetle pollination syndrome ( Steiner 1998, Goldblatt & Manning 2011) and well-developed within several plant families along the Western Cape Atlantic Coast, are never present in P. serrata .

Discussion:—In the past, some herbarium collections of orange-flowered plants from the Kamiesberg, Namaqualand have been referred to as Pauridia linearis . The protologue, however, clearly mentions that the flowers are green-backed, a distinctive feature of the plants from the Western Cape Atlantic coast referred to here as P. linearis . In contrast, the orange-flowered plants from Namaqualand, recognized below as a newly described subspecies of P. gracilipes , are attractively rouged on the tepal backs.

Additional specimens examined:— SOUTH AFRICA. Western Cape: 2 km Sof Britannia Bay, Duyker Eiland 6 , 1.6 km NW of Soetlandskop (QDS: 3217 DB), 17 July 2006, Helme 3996 ( NBG!); Swartriet Farm, Jakobsbaai (QDS: 3217 DD), 12 July 1993, Boucher 5764 ( NBG!); Jacobsbaai, 0.25 km NE of airstrip’s northern end (QDS: 3217 DD), 1 August 2007, Helme & Koopman 4703 ( NBG!); Saldanha Bay, Yscor Iron Smelting property (QDS: 3218 CC), 2 September 1995, Boucher 5947 ( NBG!); Danger Bay, near coastal dunes (QDS: 3317 BB), 6 August 1962, Barker 9682 ( NBG!); West Coast National Park , Postberg , Eof Plankiesbaai (QDS: 3317 BB), 2 August 2006, Helme 4451 ( NBG!); Kreeftbaai on the Langebaan Peninsula (QDS: 3317 BB), 5 August 1973, Thompson 1572 ( PRE!); Saldanha Bay , Oostenwal (QDS: 3318 AA), 4 August 1968, Acocks 24054 ( NBG!, PRE!); Oesterwal (QDS: 3318 AA), 16 August 1966, Barker 10408 ( NBG!); Langebaan Road (QDS:3318 AA), 8 August 1995, Goldblatt & Manning 10236 ( NBG!); Langebaan (QDS: 3318 AA), September 1925, Leipoldt s.n. ( BOL 62814!); Langebaan (QDS: 3318 AA), 14 July 2000, Snijman 1754 ( NBG!); ca . 6 km SE of Hopefield, Coerantenburg 307, SW corner (QDS: 3318 AB), 26 August 2008, Helme 5593 ( NBG!); Yserfontein sand dunes (QDS: 3318 AC), 12 August 1951, Johnson 155 ( NBG!); Soetwater Farm, near Darling (QDS: 3318 AD), 5 September 1969, Barker 10650 ( NBG!); Malmesbury Division, Darling Flora Reserve (QDS: 3318 AD), 24 August 1956, Winkler 126 ( NBG!, PRE!); Kalkfontein, on road to Mamre, 3 miles [4.8 km] Eof Blaauwberg (QDS: 3318 DA), 4 August 1937, Garside 4821 ( K! [digital image]). Inexact Locality: Blaauwberg Road, 30 July 1938, Barker 461 ( NBG!) .

Figures

FIGURE 3. Flower diversity in Pauridia. A, P. trifurcillata; B, P. umbraticola; C, P. pusilla; D, P. longituba; E, P. linearis; F, P. gracilipes subsp. speciosa; G, P. curculigoides; H, P. monophylla; I, P.capensis; J, P. canaliculata; K, P. alticola. Photographs by J.C. Paterson-Jones.

FIGURE 31. Distribution maps for A, Pauridia serrata subsp. albiflora from Northern Cape; B, P. linearis from Western Cape, South Africa.