Aspalathus eriocephaloides C.H.Stirt. & Muasya, 2016

Stirton, C. H. & Muasya, A. M., 2016, Seven new species and notes on the genus Aspalathus (Crotalarieae, Fabaceae) *, South African Journal of Botany 104, pp. 35-46 : 44

3.7. Aspalathus eriocephaloides C.H.Stirt. & Muasya , sp. nov.

Type: South Africa. Western Cape Province, Wuppertal (3219): Swartruggens, Knolfontein , 1.4 km west of Kagga Kamma turnoff on Katbakkies Pass road (− DC), 9 Nov. 2014, Helme 8119 ( BOL, holo.!; NBG!, iso.) .

Small erect flexuous shrubs up to 0.3 m tall. Stems semi-erect, with flexuose sinuous branches; young shoots pale yellow, sparsely silvery sericeous. Lea fl ets trifoliolate, borne on an inconspicuous leaf base, 1.0– 1.8 mm long, lanceolate, soft, spreading, densely covered in silvery-grey hairs, arranged in clusters of up to up to 15 leaflets per axil. In fl orescences held well above the ground; a terminal group or head of 3–6 flowers, borne atop a 20–30 mm long brachyblast; peduncle 7–8 mm. Flowers 6–7 mm long, white or cream to very pale yellow, greatly exceeding leaves; pedicel absent, sericeous; bract 1.5–2.0 mm long, 1.5 mm wide, lanceolate, leaf-like; bracteoles 2.5–3.0 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, narrowly lanceolate calyx 4 mm long, densely sericeous inside and on inner surface of the of teeth; teeth triangular, dark green, acute teeth 2 mm; tube 2 mm long, yellowish but upper portion pink, equal to teeth. Standard blade 4 × 3 mm, scarcely reflexed, appendages absent, auriculate, narrowly ovate, acute; densely sericeous on the back over whole surface and slightly flushed pink along mid-line, white with brownish-red flecks, claw 2 mm long, scarcely channelled, curved. Wing blades 4 × 2 mm, shorter than keel, densely hairy except near auricle; petal sculpturing present, upper surface, comprised of over 25 small lamellate transcostal ridges, upper surface folded inwards and covering top of the keel; claw 1.5 mm, sharply recurved. Keel petals 5 mm long, 2 mm wide; blades 3 mm wide, densely hairy in lower parts and towards apex, apex obtuse, pocketed, fused; claw 2 mm long, ribbon-like, straight, attached to base of androecium. Androecium 5 mm long; anthers with 5 shorter basifixed and 5 longer dorsifixed, versatile anthers. Pistil 5 mm long; ovary 1 mm long, shaggy along upper margin and upper base of style, ovules 2–3; style straight to gently upcurved. Fruits and seeds unknown. Fig. 9.

3.7.1. Etymology

The specific epithet eriocephaloides refers to the similarity to the fluffy white fruiting heads of two species of Eriocephalus L. ( Asteraceae ; “kapokbossie”) among which the species grows.

3.7.2. Diagnostic characters

Aspalathus eriocephaloides is a distinctive species that falls into Dahlgren's (1988) Group 1: Sericeae . It is similar to A. villosa Thunb. but differs in its erect flexuose (versus sprawling) habit; leaflets 1.0– 1.8 mm (versus 3–8 mm); terminal group or head of 3–6 (versus 1–4) flowers; and altitude above 1000 m (versus below 1000 m).

3.7.3. Distribution and habitat

Aspalathus eriocephaloides is known from short, sparse, arid shrubland ( Fig. 5 ) in Swartruggens Quartzite Fynbos (FFq 2) ( Rebelo et al., 2006). It occurs at about 1200 m, on fairly hard sandy soils, and flowers in November.The flora of the Swartruggens especially Farm Knolfontein has been recently relatively well-sampled by Dr. Ivor Jardine, who has discovered a significant number of hitherto undescribed species in the area ( Jardine and Jardine, 2010), but he has not previously recorded this new species (personal communication).

3.7.4. Conservation status

Aspalathus eriocephaloides appears to be a reseeder, and is likely to be rare and localised, collected for the first time as recently as 2014 by Nick Helme. The species was not common at the type locality (less than 200 m from the only major road through the area), and the absence of previous collections suggests that it is not common anywhere. The species is unlikely to be threatened by habitat loss, as the area is a private nature reserve, and the aridity of the habitat means that cultivation is negligible and unviable. The total population is likely to be less than 1000 plants, and the species could thus be classified as vulnerable (VU D1, vulnerable due to small population size estimated to number fewer than 1000 mature individuals; IUCN, 2001).

3.7.5. Additional material studied

South Africa. Western Cape: 3219 (Wuppertal): Swartruggens, Knolfontein, 2 km from entrance to Farm Knolfontein towards Ceres (-DC), 19 Nov 2015, Stirton & Jardine 14187 ( BOL); Farm Knolfontein, 60 km NE of Ceres (-DC), 3 Nov 2015, Jardine 2415 ( BOL) .

Figures

Fig. 9. Aspalathus eriocephaloides. (A) flowering shoots, ×1; (B) leaf cluster ×9; (C) trifoliolate leaflet, ×17; (D) side view of flower, ×5; (E) calyx opened out showing inner face, ×8; (F) leaflet inner face, ×18; (G) bract ×20; (H) bracteole, ×20; (I) Wing petal, outer face, ×8; (J) wing petal, inner face, showing recurved lamellated upper margin, ×8; (K) keel petal, ×8; (L) Androecium, ×8; (M) pistil, (N) dorsifixed and basifixed anthers. All drawn from Helme 8119 by Charles Stirton.

Fig. 5. Known distribution of Aspalathus barbigera (open circle), A. eriocephaloides (cross), A. eustonbrownii (black circle), A. macrocarpa (grey square), A. modesta (black square), A.nickhelmei (black triangle) and A. usnoides (grey circle) in Western and Eastern Cape Provinces.