Cynoglossum amabile Stapf & J.R.Drumm.

Madika, Lydia K. & Moteetee, Annah Ntsamaeeng, 2022, Taxonomic revision of the southern African species of the genus Cynoglossum L. (Boraginaceae), PhytoKeys 193, pp. 9-42 : 18-19

2. Cynoglossum amabile Stapf & J.R.Drumm. in Bull. Misc. Inform., Roy. Bot. Gard., Kew 6:202 (1906).

Type. China ♀ ♂ Yunnan, Mengtsze, 1894, W. Hancock 133 ( K-image! [3 sheets], lectotype, designated by Verdcourt 1991) .

Perennial herb, 0.6 m in height. Basal leaves 50–100× 20–35 mm, lanceolateelliptic shaped, softly hairy, deciduous, margins entire. Stem leaves 40–100× 9–20 mm, lanceolate shaped, apex acute, base cuneate, entire margins, densely covered with white brittle hairs. Trichomes soft, upright, bulbous based. Inflorescence clustered at the apex, pedicels 5–8 mm long, lengthens considerably in fruit. Calyx ca. 3 mm long, lobes ovate, grey pubescent, apex subacute. Corolla bluish purple; lobe 7× 9 mm diameter, segments round. Nutlets ovoid, 2–4× 3–4 mm, convex shaped; glochidia short, thick, marginal glochidia are more distinct than the central glochidia ( Figure 5).

Phenology. October to November.

Conservation status. Not evaluated ( Raimondo et al. 2009).

Diagnostic characters. Amongst the southern African species, C. amabile can be confused with C. lanceolatum due to their small-sized nutlets (between 2–4×2.5–4) and flowers. However, the two species are easily distinguished by their flower colour ( C. lanceolatum has white corolla with blue throat, whereas C. amabile has bluish purple corolla). This species was also reported by Stapf and Drummond (1906) and K ӧnig et al. (2015) to be like C. furcatum Wallich (from Nepal, China, Bhutan, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, and India), based on flower and fruit size. The difference can be observed in the inflorescences, whereby C. furcatum is a much larger plant with inflorescences up to 1 m tall, and C. amabile is up to 0.6 m tall.

Distribution and habitat. Cynoglossum amabile is widely distributed in southern China where it is usually grown for ornamental purposes and naturalised in many parts of the world ( Xu et al. 2009). According to Germishuizen and Meyer (2003), this species is only found in KwaZulu-Natal Province ( Figure 6), where it grows in open, disturbed sites, on gravel slopes and sandy, dry riverbanks.

Additional specimens examined. South Africa. KwaZulu-Natal: 2930 (Pietermaritzburg): Richmond District, Byrne Village (-CD), 23 Nov 1977, J. Stewart 2021 ( NU) .

Taxonomic notes. Cynoglossum amabile has been described as a widespread species which grows in disturbed habitat and can be grown as an ornamental ( K ӧnig et al. 2015). This species has only been collected once in South Africa by J. Stewart in 1977, since then there have been no later records or observations of this species in this region. Attempts to locate this species in the wild were futile. It is questionable whether this species occurs naturally in the southern African region since its single known locality is within a protected area in KwaZulu-Natal.