Nolletia ruderalis Hilliard (1973: 367)

Herman, Paul P. J., 2013, Cypsela morphology in the genus Nolletia (Asteraceae, Astereae) and a revision of the genus, Phytotaxa 122 (1), pp. 1-44 : 27-29

8. Nolletia ruderalis Hilliard (1973: 367) ; Hilliard (1977: 98); Gibbs Russell et al. (1984: 125; 1987: 216); Herman (1993: 714; 2003: 261; 2006: 232); Retief & Herman (1997: 327); Klopper et al. (2006: 142). Type:— SOUTH AFRICA. KwaZulu-Natal: Hlabisa distr., Hluhluwe Game reserve, (QDS: 2832AA Mtubatuba), 27 October 1953, Ward 1623 (holotype NU e!, isotypes E e!, NH!, PRE!).

Perennial herb or suffrutex up to 0.5 m high, sparsely to scattered leafy. Stems erect or ascending, sparsely branched, green, straw-coloured at base, ribbed, glabrous. Leaves alternate, scattered, sessile to semiamplexicaul, linear, up to 40 × 1–2 mm, progressively smaller upwards and passing into inflorescence bracts; apex acute, mucronate; margin entire; glabrous. Capitula heterogamous, disciform, 10–12 mm in diameter, terminal, solitary or arranged in few-headed loose corymbs, sometimes with a few stipitate glands on peduncle below capitula. Involucre campanulate. Involucral bracts imbricate, in 3 or 4 rows, glabrous, rarely with some stipitate glands on the margins and apices of outer bracts when young, usually minutely whitepunctate; outer bracts narrowly triangular to narrowly ovate, 1.5–2.0 × 0.5 mm, acute; second row narrowly ovate, 2.5–3.0 × 0.5–0.8 mm, acute, with narrowly membranous, fimbriate margin; third row narrowly obovate, 3.5–4.5 × 0.8–1.0 mm, acute, with narrowly membranous, fimbriate margin; inner row narrowly obovate to oblong, 4.5–6.0 × 0.8–1.0 mm, acute, with broader membranous, fimbriate margin. Receptacle epaleate, foveolate. Outer female florets up to 14, in 1 row, fertile, filiform; tube 1.5–2.5 mm long, shorter than style furcation, with glandular hairs, apex dentate or divided in 1–5 lobes up to 0.5 mm long; corolla yellow, sometimes tinged reddish at apex. Style exserted, up to 3.5 mm long, bifurcate; style branches 0.5–1.0 mm long, apex rounded or rarely with apical deltoid-papillate appendage; stigmatic areas along margin, converging at apex. Cypsela and pappus as in disc florets. Disc florets up to 65, regular, bisexual, fertile; tubular below, tube 1.0– 1.5 mm long, widening upwards, upper campanulate part 1.5–2.0 mm long; 5- or rarely 6-lobed, lobes 0.5–1.0 mm long; with glandular hairs on tube and lobes; corolla yellow. Anthers 1.5–2.0 mm long; with ovate apical appendage; base shortly calcarate, ecaudate; filament collars with thickened cell walls. Style up to 4 mm long, bifurcate; style branches 1.0– 1.5 mm long, with deltoid-papillate apical appendage; stigmatic areas marginal, not converging at apex. Cypsela brownish, margin thickened, whitish, obovoid, laterally flattened, 2.5–3.0 × 1 mm ( Fig. 1G ); covered with longish twin hairs, equal or subequal in length, apices of twin hairs acute; with oblong epicarpic cells arranged in parallel rows ( Fig. 3B ). Pappus of numerous barbellate bristles, up to 4 mm long. Flowering time: from October to March.

Distribution and habitat: —Mpumalanga, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal ( Fig. 11 ) in open or disturbed areas in grassveld, on mountain slopes, in sandy, loam or rocky soil. The red list status of this species in South Africa is LC (Least Concern) ( Raimondo et al. 2009).

Notes: —1. In her original description, Hilliard (1973) reported that the specimen Moll & Pooley 4190 was homogamous, lacking the outer, female florets. In the duplicate specimen studied at PRE, outer filiform female florets were observed.

2. In the following specimens the corolla of the outer, filiform female florets has distinguishable lobes, although still shorter than the style branches: Compton 27385, Koekemoer 2585, Van der Schijff 2055 and Venter 1718. Of these, the apices of the style branches in the female florets of Van der Schijff 2055 looked almost like those of the bisexual disc florets, with deltoid-papillate apical appendages, although the appendages are not quite as long as in the styles of the bisexual florets. In Venter 1718, the apices of the style branches in the female florets have a short tuft, like a reduced deltoid-papillate apical appendage.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Cypselae of Nolletia species as seen under the stereomicroscope: (A) N. gariepina (Warren 78, PRE); (B) N. tenuifolia (Giess 10863, PRE); (C) N. ciliaris (Jacot Guillarmod 377, PRE); (D) N. jeanettae (Bester 8534, PRE); (E) N. welmaniae (Winter 7649, PRE); (F) N. rarifolia (Van Hoepen 1825, PRE); (G) N. ruderalis (Compton 27385, PRE); (H) N. vanhoepeniae (Koekemoer 3899, PRE); (I) N. zambesica (Maguire 1693, PRE); (J) N. chrysocomoides (Merxmüller & Giess 3579, PRE); (K) N. annetjieae (Van Rooyen 3714, PRE). Photographs by P.P.J. Herman.

FIGURE 3. Light micrographs of cypsela surfaces of: (A) N. jeanettae illustrating the oblong epicarpic cells arranged in parallel rows after rehydration (Bester 8494, PRE); and (B) N. ruderalis (Vander Schijff 2041, PRE), higher magnification; (C) N. chrysocomoides showing the circular epicarpic cells after rehydration (Wiss 2553, PRE); (D) N. zambesica (Merxmüller 1966, PRE) showing the twin hairs arising from the apical part of the circular epicarpic cells after rehydration; (E) N. annetjieae after rehydration showing the paired circular to elliptic epicarpic cells scattered over the surface, each pair with one twin hair between them (Koekemoer 3901, PRE); (F) N. annetjieae showing the twin hairs arising from two (paired) circular epicarpic cells (Van Rooyen 3714, PRE). Scanning electron micrographs illustrating the different outer female florets of Nolletia species: (G) filiform female floret in N. ciliaris (Koekemoer 1062, PRE); (H) short ray in the outer female floret of N. gariepina (Jensen 208, PRE). Photographs by P.P.J. Herman.

FIGURE 11. Known geographical distribution of N. ruderalis (̝) and N. vanhoepeniae (●).