Mucinaea, M.Pinter, Mart.-Azorín, U.M̧ll.-Doblies, D.M̧ll.-Doblies, Pfosser & Wetschnig

Martínez-Azorín, Mario, Crespo, Manuel B., Alonso-Vargas, María Ángeles, Pinter, Michael, Crouch, Neil R., Dold, Anthony P., Mucina, Ladislav, Pfosser, Martin & Wetschnig, Wolfgang, 2023, A generic monograph of the Hyacinthaceae subfamily Urgineoideae, Phytotaxa 610 (1), pp. 1-143 : 63-64

13. Mucinaea M.Pinter, Mart.-Azorín, U.M̧ll.-Doblies, D.M̧ll.-Doblies, Pfosser & Wetschnig

in Phyton (Horn, Austria) 53(2): 296 (2013) ( Figs 2.19 , 34 ). Typus generis:— M. nana (Snijman) M.Pinter, Mart. -Azorín, U.M̧ll.- Doblies, D.M̧ll.-Doblies, Pfosser & Wetschnig (holotype).

= Drimia sect. Orchidiformes J.C.Manning & Goldblatt in Strelitzia 40: 118 (2018). Typus sectionis:— D. nana Snijman (holotype).

Description:—Bulbous geophyte. Bulb subglobose, hypogeal, sometimes proliferous and clump forming by bulblets, inner leaf bases of each shoot generation narrow, semiterete, with purplish bulb flesh; sheathing cataphyll forming short neck, 12–50 mm long; the outer leaf bases (±10) form second gamophyllous sheath. Leaves numerous, 14‒20 per shoot, suberect to spreading, filiform, 10–25 cm long, ca. 1 mm wide, glabrous, hysteranthous, or sometimes synanthous in cultivation. Inflorescence a lax raceme, 3‒11 cm long, with 6‒27 flowers; peduncle erect, purplish, 7‒14 cm long, glabrous; pedicels spreading, straight, 7‒14 mm long, purplish. Bracts ovate–triangular, acute, with short spur; bracteoles absent. Flowers stellate, erect-patent, diurnal. Tepals 6, biseriate, 7–11 mm long, free, usually strongly reflexed, purplish–pink, with green markings surrounded by white ring at base on adaxial side. Stamens 6, erect and connivent to style; filaments stout, flattened, 3.5–4.0 mm long, rather suddenly contracted to terete upper part, white, sometimes with purplish transverse band in middle of flattened part, all 6 deflexed downwards above ovary, convergent to fasciculate towards anthers; anthers erect, ca. 2 mm long, forming fascicle, yellow, basifixed, with longitudinal dehiscence but only opening as an apical slit. Ovary ovoid, pale–green, 1.5–2.0 mm long. Style white, declinate, 3–4 mm long, protruding laterally from fascicle of filaments below anthers (enantiostyly). Capsule ovoid, 4–7 mm long, valves completely dehiscing from base; tepals cohering and inrolled above ovary after anthesis, circumcissile from base and persisting as a cap at the top of the developing capsules. Seeds subellipsoid to subfusiform, 2.0– 2.8 mm long, dark golden-brown, glossy, testa surface distinctly reticulate-alveolate with subisodiametric, polygonal cells, with collapsed periclinal walls and prominent anticlinal walls.

Number of species and distribution:— Mucinaea is a monotypic genus endemic to Namaqualand (northwestern South Africa), occurring in the Kamiesberg Mountains and Kourkammaberg, extending north to near Eksteenfontein ( Grenier 2019) ( Fig. 29 ). It is restricted to the Karoo-Namib Region (sensu Takhtajan 1986 and Martínez-Azorín et al. 2023a). For further information on Mucinaea see Snijman (1985) and Pinter et al. (2013).

Karyology:—Apparently not studied yet ( Goldblatt et al. 2012).

History, diagnostic characters, and taxonomic relationships:— Snijman (1985) described Tenicroa nana , differing from typical Tenicroa species by the usually hysteranthous leaves, the bright purplish-pink tepals (a colour nearly unique within Urgineoideae ), each showing a basal green marking encircled by a white ring (also unique in Urgineoideae ), anthers with longitudinal dehiscence but only opening as an apical pore or slit (suggesting buzzpollination), and the purple amplexicaul sheathing cataphyll without raised transverse ribs, enclosing the leaf bases. The bulb structure is also unique in Urgineoideae , presenting a gamophyllous second sheath inside the amplexicaul cataphyll consisting of the bases of about 10 non-amplexicaul foliage leaves ( Pinter et al. 2013).

Manning et al. (2004), in a preliminary phylogenetic study, showed T. nana as basal to all studied samples of Urgineoideae when Bowiea is excluded. Tenicroa nana is placed far from the clade including typical Tenicroa species. In an expanded phylogeny, Pfosser et al. (2012) also showed Tenicroa nana in an independent lineage within a large clade with several well-supported subclades, among them the remaining Tenicroa species. The phylogenetic analyses of Martínez-Azorín et al. (2023a) place a sample of Mucinaea nana in an isolated position, being basal to all other Urgineoideae taxa excluding Rhadamanthus and Bowiea .

Based on the distinct morphological and molecular differences, Pinter et al. (2013) described Mucinaea to include T. nana , accepted here as a monotypic genus.

Accepted species:—

Mucinaea nana (Snijman) M.Pinter, Mart. -Azorín, U.M̧ll.-Doblies, D.M̧ll.-Doblies, Pfosser & Wetschnig in Phyton (Horn, Austria) 53(2): 296 (2013) ≡ Tenicroa nana Snijman in S. African J. Bot. 51(4): 284 (1985), basionym ≡ Drimia nana (Snijman) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt in Bothalia 33(1): 111 (2003), non Drimia nana (Oyewole) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt in Edinburgh J. Bot. 60(3): 557 (2004), nom. illeg. ( Fig. 34 ). Type:— SOUTH AFRICA. Northern Cape. (3018): Kamiesberg, on slopes of the Rooiberg, (–AC), elev. 1300 m, Fl. ex Kirstenbosch 26 November 1980, D.A. Snijman 292 (NBG0123648-0! holo.; PRE 0665215-0!, K iso.).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Seed morphology in Urgineoideae. 1. Drimia neriniformis Baker; 2. Drimia robusta Baker; 3. Fusifilum capitatum (Hook.) Speta; 4. Fusifilum montanum (A.P.Dold & E.Brink) A.P.Dold et al.; 5. Fusifilum physodes (Jacq.) Speta; 6. Geschollia anomala (Baker) Speta; 7. Geschollia brachyandra Mart.-Azorín et al.; 8. Geschollia calcarata (Baker) Mart.-Azorín et al.; 9. Geschollia globuligera Mart.- Azorín et al.; 10. Geschollia occultans (G.Will.) Mart.-Azorín et al.; 11. Geschollia prolifera Mart.-Azorín et al.; 12. Indurgia congesta (Wight) Speta; 13. Indurgia indica (Roxb.) Speta; 14. Iosanthus amboensis (Baker) Mart.-Azorín et al.; 15. Iosanthus macrostigma Mart.-Azorín et al.; 16. Iosanthus toxicarius (C.Archer & R.H.Archer) Mart.-Azorín et al.; 17. Litanthus pusillus Harv.; 18. Litanthus stenocarpus (J.C.Manning & J.M.J.Deacon) Mart.-Azorín et al.; 19. Mucinaea nana (Snijman) M.Pinter et al.; 20. Rhadamanthopsis haworthioides (Baker) Mart.-Azorín et al. All to the same scale in mm.

FIGURE 29. Approximate distribution ranges of accepted genera in Urgineoideae.

FIGURE 34. Mucinaea nana (Snijman) M.Pinter et al.