Drimia chalumnensis A.P.Dold & E.Brink

Manning, John, 2022, New combinations in Drimia Jacq. ex Wild. (Hyacinthaceae: Urgineoideae) and an updated key to the southern African species, Bothalia (a 2) 52 (1), pp. 1-7 : 2

Drimia chalumnensis A.P.Dold & E.Brink in South African Journal of Botany 70: 631 (2004) .

Type: South Africa, Eastern Cape, Peddie ( 3327 ): Cornfields farm, near Chalumna River , (–BA), 25 Oct. 2002, Dold 4619 ( GRA, holo.).

Austronea patersoniae Schönl. ex Mart.- Azorín , A.P. Dold & M.B. Crespo in Martínez-Azorín et al. in Phytotaxa 427: 94 (2019c), syn. nov.

Type: South Africa, Grahamstown ( 3326 ): Alicedale, (–AC), 1 Jul. 1919, Cruden 300 ( GRA, holo.; PRE, iso.).

Note: Drimia chalumnensis is an Eastern Cape endemic described from two populations near Chalumna east of Grahamstown and diagnosed in sect. Capitatae by the loose bulb scales and several subterete or linear-channelled leaves with papillate margins. Two additional populations, from Alicedale west of Grahamstown and from Port Elizabeth respectively, were provisionally included in D. chalumnensis by Manning and Goldblatt (2018) on the basis that they differed from that taxon essentially only in their taller inflorescences (60–110 mm vs 15–50 mm) and slightly longer pedicels (4–6 mm vs 2–6 mm). Plants matching these populations have now been recorded from further locations along the Eastern Cape coast between Jeffrey’s Bay and Alicedale, and have been segregated from D. chalumnensis under the name Austronea patersoniae ( Martínez-Azorín et al. 2019c) . The cited differences between the two taxa remain essentially the mostly slightly longer, erect foliage (exposed portion 30–45 vs 15–30 mm long) and the longer peduncle (80–150 vs 10–20 mm), all of which are consistent with a more mesic habitat. Purported minor differences in the length of the lower bract spur and tepals are not consistent. In addition, Martínez-Azorín et al. (2019c) record a second locality for smaller plants consistent with D. chalumnensis from Aberdeen far to the northwest of the original material. As there do not appear to be any additional substantive differences between the Jeffrey’s Bay–Alicedale plants and those from Aberdeen and Peddie it seems reasonable to regard them as representing a single species as suggested by Manning and Goldblatt (2018). Following this interpretation, Drimia chalumnensis is now known to occur more widely along the Eastern Cape coast from Jeffery’s Bay to Peddie and inland near Aberdeen.