Blackwell Publishing LtdOxford, UKBOJBotanical Journal of the Linnean Society0024-4074© 2007 The Authors; Journal compilation © 2007 The Linnean Society of London? 2007 1544 545548 Original Articles NEW SPECIES OF FELICIA S. ORTIZ Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 154, 545–548. With 2 figures A new species of Felicia L. (Asteraceae, Astereae) from South Africa SANTIAGO ORTIZ* Departamento de Botánica, Facultade de Farmacia, Universidade de Santiago, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galiza-Spain Received April 2006; accepted for publication March 2007 During a stay in 2002 at the Kirstenbosch Research Centre in Cape Town (South Africa), several groups of Asteraceae were studied, principally of the tribes Mutisieae s.l. and Astereae. One of these was the Amellus group (tribe Astereae), and particularly the genus Felicia Cass. A collection of this genus from Northern Cape Province (South Africa) was examined and finally identified as a new species, Felicia martinsiana sp. nov. Besides the description of the new species, relationships with Felicia bergeriana (Spreng.) O. Hoffm., and Felicia merxmuelleri Grau, the most similar species of the genus, are discussed. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 154, 545–548. ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: angiosperms – Asteroideae – Compositae – southern Africa – systematics – taxonomy. INTRODUCTION The genus Felicia Cass. (Asteraceae, Astereae) comprises about 90 species of herbs and shrubs with distribution principally centred on southern Africa, though also extending to northern tropical Africa as far as Nigeria and Ethiopia, and indeed Saudi Arabia (Bremer, 1994). The principal systematic study of this genus was that of Grau (1973), who exhaustively catalogued a total of 83 species of which 20 were newly described. Since that time the number of species in the genus Felicia has scarcely increased. The most recent descriptions of new species are those of Beentje (1999) from Kenya and Tanzania, and Manning & Goldblatt (2002) from South Africa. Felicia is the principal member of the Amellus group of genera defined by Grau (1973) to include most of the African components of the tribe Astereae. According to Grau, many of the members of this group are derivatives of Felicia. Nesom (1994) considered this group to be characterized by obovate and flat cypselas with two thickened lateral ribs and pappus with a single series of generally caducous bristles. During a stay in 2002 at the Kirstenbosch Research Centre in Cape Town (South Africa), I studied several groups of Asteraceae, principally of the tribes Mutisieae s.l. and Astereae. One of these was the Amellus group (tribe Astereae), focusing on the morphological boundaries between the genus Felicia and the other components of that group (my unpubl. data). As part of this research a collection of Felicia material from Northern Cape Province (South Africa) was studied and finally identified as a new species. MATERIAL AND METHODS This study was based on morphological analysis of specimens from the BOL, NBG and K herbaria (see Appendix) (Holmgren, Holmgren & Barnett, 1990). Herbarium material was studied with the aid of a light microscope. Cypselas of dried material were mounted on aluminium stubs, and coated with a c. 30nm layer of Au for study with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) (LEO 435VP) operating at 15 kV. DESCRIPTION FELICIA *E-mail: bvsortiz@usc.es MARTINSIANA S. ORTIZ SP. NOV. Type: South Africa, Western Cape–Northern Cape province boundary, Ceres–Calvinia district boundary, © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 154, 545–548 545 546 S. ORTIZ near Papkuil, slopes leading to river bed, 2000 ft, 25.ix.1968, Levyns 11374 (Holotype BOL). Diagnosis: A Felicia bergeriana cypselis minoribus, late obovoideis, rugosissimis margineque sinuosis differt. Annual herb 5–12 cm high, branching near base; stems sparsely leafy, hispid, with short and long eglandular multicellular hairs, and with shortly stipitate glands in upper parts. Basal leaves decreasing in a rosette soon withering, oblanceolate, 15–22 × 3– 4.5 mm, narrowed to petiole-like base, thinly hispid with eglandular multicellular hairs; upper leaves 6–15(−18) × (0.5–)1–4 mm, oblanceolate, alternate, becoming linear towards the apical part, hispid with long eglandular multicellular and short glandular hairs. Capitula heterogamous, radiate, solitary on terminal peduncles 20–55 mm long. Involucre 7–12 × 3– 5 mm, hemispherical to broadly campanulate; (8–)13– 20 phyllaries per involucre, 3–5 × 0.3–2 mm, arranged in 1–2 rows, with eglandular and glandular hairs; outer phyllaries linear with narrow margins, inner phyllaries oblanceolate with broad scarious margins and fimbriate tips; receptacle flat, with slightly distinct alveoles. Ray florets female, 10–16 per capitulum, tube cylindrical, glandular–hairy, 2–2.5 mm long; ray limb spreading, elliptic–oblanceolate, 7– 11 × 1.3–2 mm, blue to deep mauve. Style terete with linear branches, partially exserted, branches ± 1.5 mm long, acute, margins stigmatic. Cypselas broadly obovoid, 2(−2.2) × (0.8–)1–1.4 mm, flattened with a conspicuously wrinkled surface and sinuate thickened margins, faces and margins covered with short adpressed twin hairs 0.1–0.2 mm long, pale brown; pappus absent. Disc florets bisexual, 40–130 per capitulum, yellowish, inner florets functionally male, tube cylindrical but widening slightly in upper part, glandular–hairy, 4–5 mm long, shortly five-lobed; lobes triangular, recurved, 0.7–1 × 0.5 mm, with thickened margins. Anthers 1.7–2 mm long, including apical appendage 0.3–0.5 mm; anther base obtuse, ecaudate. Style 3.5–4 mm, terete, branches ± 1.5 mm long, linear, flattened with stigmatic margins and sterile, triangular, papillate apical appendages. Cypselas as in ray florets; pappus bristles uniseriate, ± 25 per cypsela, barbellate, caducous, 3(−3.7) mm long, somewhat connate at base in a minute collar, white (Figs 1, 2). Flowering time: August–September (Fig. 1). Derivation: The species name is in reference to my wife, Maria Xosé Martíns Mondragón, who has accompanied me on fieldwork on numerous occasions and has provided invaluable help in my studies of African Asteraceae. Other material examined: South Africa, Northern Cape, Sutherland, Jangua Karoo, 7.ix.1938, Compton 7940 (NBG). DISCUSSION The cypselas of Felicia martinsiana are highly characteristic, with pronounced surface wrinkles and sinuate margins that clearly distinguish this species from practically all other known species of the genus (Fig. 2), which have smooth cypselas with straight margins. Within the genus, probably the most closely related group of species is that which has two rows of phyllaries and marginal cypselas without pappus. Within this group the most morphologically similar species appear to be F. bergeriana (Spreng.) O. Hoffm. and F. merxmuelleri Grau, which have cypselas with a slightly undulate surface; these species have a rather wide distribution in South Africa, the former from Namaqualand District (Northern Cape Province) in the north-west to the Cape Peninsula in the south, and also extending west in Western Cape Province, and the latter from Namaqualand to Ceres and Laingsburg in the Western Cape Province (Grau, 1973; Goldblatt & Manning, 2000). Other species of this group can be easily distinguished from F. martisiana, for example F. heterophylla (Cass.) Grau by its plumose pappus Table 1. Principal morphological differences between Felicia martinsiana, F. bergeriana and F. merxmuelleri Character F. martinsiana F. bergeriana F. merxmuelleri Phyllotaxis Alternate Opposite Leaf hairs Cypsela size (mm) Cypsela surface Cypsela margins Length of the cypsela hairs (mm) Number of bristles per pappus Pappus length (mm) Eglandular and short glandular 2(−2.2) × (0.8–)1–1.4 Conspicuously wrinkled Conspicuously sinuate 0.1–0.2 ± 25 3(−3.7) Eglandular 2.5–3.3(−3.5) × (1–)1.5–2.5 Slightly undulate Straight 0.35–0.4 ± 10 1.5–2.5(−3) Alternate, rarely opposite Eglandular 3 × 1.5 Slightly undulate Straight 0.1–0.3 ± 15 3.5–5 © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 154, 545–548 NEW SPECIES OF FELICIA 547 Figure 1. Felicia martinsiana S. Ortiz. A, habit. B, leaf. C, capitulum. D, phyllary. E, ray corolla. F, disc corolla. Based on Compton 7940 (NBG). G, cypsela of ray floret. Based on Levyns 11374 (BOL). © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 154, 545–548 548 S. ORTIZ Goldblatt P, Manning J. 2000. Cape plants. A conspectus of the Cape flora of South Africa. Strelitzia 9. Cape Town: National Botanical Insitute and Missouri Botanical Garden. Grau J. 1973. Revision der Gattung Felicia (Asteraceae). Mitteilungen der Botanischen Staatssammlung, München 9: 195–705. Holmgren PK, Holmgren HN, Barnett LC. 1990. Index Herbariorum. I. The Herbaria of the World, 8th ed. Regnum Vegetabile 120. Manning J, Goldblatt P. 2002. A distinctive new species of Felicia (Astereae) from Western Cape, South Africa. Bothalia 32: 193–195. Nesom GL. 1994. Repartition of Mairia (Asteraceae: Astereae). Phytologia 76: 85–95. APPENDIX Figure 2. SEM micrograph of the ray cypselas of Felicia martinsiana (left) (Levyns 11374 BOL) and F. bergeriana (Schelpe 8126 BOL) (right). Scale bar = 1 mm. and F. minima (Hutch.) Grau by its small involucre and black cypselas. Felicia annectens (Harv.) Grau, which may be only a depauperate form of F. bergeriana (Goldblatt & Manning, 2000), can be easily separated from the new species by its glabrous phyllaries. Felicia martinsiana is readily distinguishable from F. bergeriana and F. merxmuelleri principally by its cypselas, which are markedly smaller, and which as noted have a conspicuously wrinkled surface and thickened sinuate margins (Fig. 2). Furthermore, F. bergeriana has opposite leaves with only eglandular hairs, while F. merxmuelleri has this same type of leaf indumentum and longer pappus than F. martinsiana (Table 1). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks go to R. Barreiro for SEM micrographs, to Luis G. Orellana for the illustrations, to M. Laínz for the Latin diagnosis, to Guy Norman for the English translation, to the staff of the Kirstenbosch Research Centre, Cape Town, and to the keepers of the herbaria mentioned for the loan of material. REFERENCES Beentje HJ. 1999. A new genus and some new species of Compositae from East Tropical Africa. Kew Bulletin 54: 97–102. Bremer K. 1994. Asteraceae: cladistics and classification. Portland, OR: Timber Press. SELECTED FELICIA (SPRENG.) O. HOFFM. SPECIMENS EXAMINED OF BERGERIANA South Africa: Northern Cape: Namaqualand, Groot vlei, near Khamierkroon, 29.viii.1937, Compton 5465 (NBG); Northern Cape: Calvinia, Groot Toring, 1.ix.1982, Schelpe 8126 (BOL); Western Cape: Clanwilliam, Citrusdal, 1.ix.1945, Compton 17124 (BOL, NBG); Western Cape: Piketberg, 2 miles S of Berg River Bridge, 21.viii.1933, Salter 3868 (K); Western Cape: Vredenburg, Saldanha, Trekossenkraal Farm, 23.viii.2001, Boucher 6825 (NBG); Western Cape: Malmesbury, 16 miles NW of Malmesbury, 10.x.1933, Salter 3895 (K); Western Cape: Tulbagh, Tulbagh, 23.viii.1950, Esterhuysen 17480 (BOL); Western Cape: Caledon, between Bot River and Caledon, 27.viii.1939, Fairall 217 (NBG). SELECTED SPECIMENS EXAMINED OF MERXMUELLERI FELICIA GRAU South Africa: Northern Cape: Namaqualand, Brakdam, 25.viii.1941, Esterhuysen 5695 (BOL); Northern Cape: Calvinia, Meulsteensvlei, near Nieuwoudtville, 15.viii.1953, L. E. Taylor 3932 (NBG); Western Cape: Vanrhynsdorp, Zan Kraal, near Giftberg, 7.viii.1949, Barker 5649 (NBG); Western Cape: Clanwillian, Citadel Kop, 7.viii.1953, Compton 24248 (NBG); Western Cape: Ceres, Wuppertal, Knolfontein, Swartrrugens, 60 km NE of Ceres, 6.x.2005, I. & C. Jardine 204 (NBG); Western Cape: Vredenburg, 3 km N of Vredenburg on way to Veldrif, 6.x.1981, Hugo 2944 (NBG); Western Cape: Worcester, 1.5 km from Worcester–Ceres turnoff, 28.viii.1977, Walters 1853 (NBG); Western Cape: Laingsburg, Whitehill, 27.viii.1929, Compton 3098 (BOL, NBG). © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 154, 545–548