Marasmodes fasciculata, S. Ortiz, 2009

Magee, A. R., Ebrahim, I., Koopman, R. & von Staden, L., 2017, Marasmodes (Asteraceae, Anthemideae), the most threatened plant genus of the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa: Conservation and taxonomy *, South African Journal of Botany 111, pp. 371-371 : 371-

4. Marasmodes fasciculata

S.Ortiz, Bot. J. Linn.Soc. 159: 334 (2009). Type: South Africa. Western Cape, Cape Town (3318): Malmesbury , east side of Cape Town to Malmesbury road, near the turning to road to Mamre (–DA), 20 May 1956, N.S. Pillans 10114 ( BOL, holo.; K, iso.) .

Laxly branched shrublets, 0.3–0.6 m tall. Leaves alternate, regularly arranged along branches, spreading, narrowly lanceolate to linear or oblanceolate, 3–10 × 0.5 mm, simple or sometimes trifid, mucronulate, secondary basal lobes rudimentary or well developed; axillary fascicles present or absent. Capitula in clusters of 2 to 8, rarely some solitary, at branch tips. Involucre campanulate or sometimes narrowly obconical, 3.5–5.0 × 3–5 mm; bract margins and apices scarious, sessile glands at appendage base inconspicuous, stereome prominent; outer bracts ovate, 1.5–2.0 mm long, margin and apex broadly scarious; middle bracts narrowly ovate to oblong, 2.0– 2.5 mm long, margin broadly scarious, apex with a scarious appendage; inner bracts oblong, 3–4 mm long, margins scarious, apex with a prominent scarious appendage, yellowish brown or sometimes reddish pink. Florets ca. 12 to 26; limb 5-lobed from just above midpoint; lobes recurved. Pappus with adaxial scales ±half to full length of corolla tube.

Diagnostic characters

Marasmodes fasciculata

Shares the terminally clustered heads with M. polycephala and M. dummeri but is distinguished by the spreading leaves ( Fig. 2H & I ) (adpressed in M. dummeri and erect to suberect in M. polycephala ). The three species also have distinctly sympatric distributions.

Due to the presence of both solitary and irregular clusters of 2 (3) heads in M. oligocephala , it has been confused with M. fasciculata in the past (e.g. one of the M. fasciculata paratypes, Daines 932 (BOL), is considered here rather to be M. oligocephala ). Both species share the broadly scarious margins on the outer and middle involucral bracts but M. fasciculata can be distinguished by the mostly regular terminal clusters of 2 to 8 heads (vs mostly solitary, some in irregular loose clusters of 2(3) along the upper parts of the stem in M. oligocephala ) and the larger campanulate or sometimes narrowly obconical heads, 3–5 mm broad (vs cylindrical-campanulate, 2–3 mm broad in M. oligocephala ).

Ortiz (2009) treated material from the Paardeberg as M. oubinae , when describing that species. The Paardeberg population is however very different from M. oubinae , which has solitary heads borne on very short lateral shoots and with only the inner involucral bracts with prominent scarious margins. After studying this population in situ its identity as rather M. fasciculata could be clarified.

Distribution and ecology

This species is restricted to lowland renosterveld between Atlantis and the Paardeberg ( Fig. 4 ) on transition zones between clay and acid sands.

Until the discovery of three individuals at Three Fountains farm in 2012, the species was considered to be possibly extinct with subpopulations at other localities known at the time lost to urban and agricultural expansion and extremely dense alien invasive wattle infestations of the habitat. The revised identification of the Paardeberg subpopulation as M. fasciculata (the largest extant subpopulation) increases the known range and population size of this species. However, it is still Critically Endangered, as the two subpopulations are isolated and threatened by ongoing habitat loss and degradation. It qualifies under the criteria B1ab(iii,v) + 2ab(iii,v); C2a(i) due to its small range size (Extent of Occurrence 8 km 2), and a small remaining wild population of fewer than 60 plants, which is fragmented into two small, isolated subpopulations.

Additional specimens examined

South Africa. WESTERN CAPE: 3318 (Cape Town): Three Fountains farm, Atlantis (– DA), 1 Jun 2012, Magee 496 ( NBG) ; near to the E side of the main road, Cape Town to Malmesbury, about 15 mile out (– DA), 7 Jun 1942, Pillans 9778 ( BOL, NBG) ; along Malmesbury road, c. 15–20 miles beyond the turn-off from the N7 , in zone between sand and clay (– DA), 19 Mar 1971, Esterhuysen 32584 ( BOL) ; Vlakfontein farm at E side of Paardeberg Flats (– DA), 26 Apr 1980, Burgers 2361 ( NBG), 23 Apr 2014, Magee & Ebrahim 1067 ( NBG) ; low flats at the E base of the Paardeberg (– DA), Jun 1937, Pillans 8367 ( BOL, NBG, PRE) .

Figures

Fig. 2. General morphology of Marasmodes crewiana (A–C), M. defoliata (D & E), M. dummeri (F & G), M. fasciculata (H & I), M. macrocephala (J & K), M. oligocephala (L & M), and M.oppositifolia (O & P).

Fig. 4. The known geographical distribution of Marasmodes fasciculata (circles), M. macrocephala (stars) and M. reflexa (square).