Trachyandra eriocarpa Boatwr. & J.C.Manning, 2013

Boatwright, James Stephen & Manning, John Charles, 2013, Two new species of Trachyandra sect. Liriothamnus (Xanthorrhoeaceae, Asphodeloideae) from the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa, Phytotaxa 155 (1), pp. 59-65 : 60

Trachyandra eriocarpa Boatwr. & J.C.Manning , sp. nov. ( Fig. 1 )

Resembling T. reflexipilosa in the pubescent leaves but distinguished by the leaves striate and villous on both surfaces, the villous bracts, ovaries and capsules, and the rigidly suberect fruiting pedicels. It also resembles T. margaretae but differs in the broader leaves and villous peduncles and bracts.

Type:— SOUTH AFRICA. Eastern Cape (3226): summit of Great Winterberg, Glamorgan Farm , (– AD), 20 January 2009, V. R . Clark , C . Pienaar & R. J . Daniels 82 (holotype NBG!, isotype GRA!) .

Deciduous geophyte, 400–600 mm high. Rhizome compact, horizontal, roots wiry, lanate basally. Cataphylls surrounding shoots, green and leaf-like in texture but lacking blades. Leaves ± 10–12, linear, 150–250 × 3–6 mm, leathery, striate on both surfaces and densely villous with spreading, silvery hairs on ribs and margins, decaying to form a coarsely fibrous collar. Inflorescence a simple or sparsely branched raceme; peduncle ± erect, 2–3 mm diam. at base, densely villous at base, more sparsely so distally; raceme dense, 30–50- flowered, 150–200 mm long, flowers at first congested near apex but rachis elongating during anthesis; bracts ovate-acuminate, 3–5 mm long, membranous, villous, margins ciliate; pedicels suberect, 15–20(–23) mm long, glabrous. Flowers rotate, white with brown midrib, immaculate; outer tepals elliptical, ± 12 × 2.5 mm, inner oblanceolate, ± 11 × 3 mm. Stamens suberect; filaments filiform, tapering below, white, ± 6 mm long, retrorsely scabrid in distal half and inner filaments minutely pubescent for short distance below scabrae; anthers ± 1.5 mm long, yellow. Ovary subglobose, ± 2 mm long, green, with ± 6 ovules per locule, densely villous or bearded on locules with erect, whitish hairs; style erect, filiform, ± 7 mm long, white. Capsules obovoid, contracted at base and sub-stipitate, 5–6 × 3–4 mm, villous. Seeds tetrahedral and angled, greyish, tuberculate, ± 3 mm diam. Flowering time: December–January.

Distribution and ecology: —Known only from the Great Winterberg in the Eastern Cape ( Fig. 3 ), where it was collected on the summit plateau at 2030 m in heavy black turf in Festuca tussock grassland, in Amathole Mistbelt Grassland ( Mucina et al. 2006). This vegetation type is restricted to the highest ridges of the Eastern Cape mountains. The size of the population was not recorded on the label information and no threats were documented on the collection.

Taxonomic relationships: —A very distinctive species recognized by the firm-textured, densely villous leaves, the similarly villous peduncle and bracts, and especially by the villous or bearded ovary and capsules. Its immediate relationships appear to be with T. reflexipilosa ( Kuntze 1898: 315) Obermeyer (1962: 726) and T. margaretae Obermeyer (1962: 727) , which range along the eastern escarpment from KwaZulu-Natal northwards. Trachyandra eriocarpa resembles T. reflexipilosa in general appearance, especially the numerous, firm-textured, linear-lanceolate, striate leaves conspicuously hairy on the ribs and margins, hairy peduncle, and subglobose capsules contracted at the base. There are, however, notable differences between the two species in vestiture. In T. reflexipilosa the foliar vestiture is restricted to the leaf undersurface and margins, with the upper surface completely glabrous and lacking ribs, and the hairs are conspicuously retrorse rather than spreading. The floral bracts, ovary and capsules are quite glabrous, contrasting sharply with the villous bracts, ovaries and capsules of T. eriocarpa . The fruiting pedicels in T. reflexipilosa are distinctly arcuate but rigidly suberect in T. eriocarpa . Trachyandra margaretae shares the densely villous ovary (mature capsules not seen) and congested inflorescences with T. eriocarpa but differs in its narrower, linear leaves (2 mm broad) and glabrous peduncles and bracts.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Type specimen of Trachyandra eriocarpa.

FIGURE 3. Known geographical distribution of Trachyandra eriocarpa (square) and T. bulbosa (circle).