Pauridia scullyi (Baker) Snijman & Kocyan (2013: 29)

Snijman, Deirdre A., 2014, A taxonomic revision of the genus Pauridia (Hypoxidaceae) in southern Africa, Phytotaxa 182 (1), pp. 1-114 : 45-47

10. Pauridia scullyi (Baker) Snijman & Kocyan (2013: 29) . Fig. 18

Bas.:— Hypoxis scullyi Baker (1889: 2) ≡ Spiloxene scullyi (Baker) Garside (1936: 268) . Type (lectotype designated by Snijman & Kocyan 2013: 29):— SOUTH AFRICA. [Northern Cape], Namaqualand, Scully s.n. (com. G. Scott-Elliott) (K! No. K000256008 [image])

Plants 1–30 cm tall. Corm somewhat globose, 8–25 mm diam., outer covering more or less smooth, corky to leathery, sometimes fissured and appearing roughly fibrous, occasionally partially covered by roots; roots spreading from corm proximally and distally. Cataphylls membranous, up to 17 mm long. Leaves 2–7, sheathing up to 25 mm above base, recurved, lorate, 70–300(–500) × 3–10(–14) mm, carinate, tapering evenly upwards, softly thin-textured, margin entire. Inflorescences (1)2 or 3 in flower at a time, 2–5-flowered; scape up to 35–150 × 1.5–1.7 mm, more or less 3-angled in cross section, pale green, sharp corners hyaline; bracts 2–5, loosely clasping pedicels proximally or nearly entire length, lanceolate, 17–60 × 2.5–7.0 mm, keeled, thin-textured, pale green. Flowers pedicellate, stellate, sulphur yellow, backed with green in outer whorl, sometimes narrowly striped with red, unscented; pedicels spreading, more so in fruit, 20–87 × ca. 1 mm, compressed, pale green; tepals 6, often fused at base up to 1mm long, sometimes somewhat reflexed, oblong-lanceolate, 5–16 mm long, outer 3.0–5.0 mm wide, minutely mucronate, inner 2.5–3.5 mm wide. Stamens 6, slightly spreading, subequal or outer slightly shorter than inner, yellow; filaments inserted near base of tepals, 1.5–2.5 mm long, shorter than anthers; anthers oblong, latrorse, 2.5–5.0 × ca. 1 mm, basal lobes ca. 0.5 mm long; pollen yellow. Ovary narrowly obconical, somewhat 3- angled in cross section, 3.5–10.0 × 2 mm, 1-locular, with 3 parietal placentae; style ca. 1.5 mm long; stigma branches erect, lanceolate, 4.5–6.5 × 0.7–1.7 mm, unequal, slightly shorter to longer than stamens, yellow, sometimes with basal lobes 1.5–2.0 mm long, yellow, densely papillose. Capsules obconical, 8–17 × 3–4 mm, dehiscence circumscissile. Seeds ellipsoid, ca. 0.5 × 0.4 mm; testa black or rusty brown, of transversally widened cells, forming ca. 12, broad, longitudinal ribs. Flowering period: mid-July–September(–November).

Distribution and habitat:—Endemic to Northern Cape, Pauridia scullyi inhabits the mountains of the Richtersveld, the high-lying areas between Okiep and Wildepaardehoek Pass in northern Namaqualand, and the Kamiesberg in central Namaqualand ( Fig. 19A ). Usually found in clumps, the plants frequent seasonally damp, partially shaded sites along stream banks and in rock crevices—typically granitic rocks in Namaqualand but also quartzitic outcrops in the Richtersveld.

Diagnostic features:— Nel (1914b: as Ianthe ) placed Pauridia scullyi in his Aquaticae group, based on the absence of fibrous corm tunics as well as the disc-like remnants of old corms. P. scullyi , however, has a unilocular ovary with parietal placentation, which separates it from P. aquatica and P. alba , both with a trilocular ovary. Given these differences, P. scullyi now appears more closely allied to P. maximiliani with which it shares the derived, unilocular ovary, thin-textured leaves and broad inflorescence bracts. Found along the mountains immediately east of the Olifants River Valley, P. maximiliani is distinguishable by a consistently two-flowered inflorescence and an elongated, sharply three-cornered ovary, 13–30 mm long. P. scullyi , in contrast, has two to as many as four or five flowers per inflorescence and a consistently shorter ovary, 3.5–10.0 mm long.

Discussion:—Previously this species was considered to belong to the flora of Namibia ( Merxmüller 1969), but recently Müller-Doblies et al. (2011) described these Namibian plants as a separate species, now Pauridia etesionamibensis . Although superficially similar to P. scullyi this species has white or pink flowers with a contrasting orange-yellow eye or dark pink central ring, and the three-locular ovary has a raised, minutely papillate apical dome. Populations of both species are partly sympatric on the Rosyntjieberg, Richtersveld, where they have been recorded growing in the same rock crevices.

Additional specimens examined:— SOUTH AFRICA. Northern Cape: Olienhoutplaas, Karagaskloof (QDS: 2816 DB), 3 September 1977, Thompson & le Roux 365 ( NBG!, PRE!) ; W end of Rosyntjieberg (QDS: 2817 AC), 8 September 1988, Bruyns 3294 ( NBG!) ; Kubus , main kloof (QDS: 2817 AC), 29 August 1925, Marloth 12370 ( NBG!, PRE!) ; Richtersveld, Rosyntjieberg , Nof Lelieshoek (QDS: 2817 AC), 30 August 1977, Oliver, Tölken & Venter 305 ( PRE!) ; 38 km Nof Eksteenfontein (QDS: 2817 CA), 3 August 1994, Goldblatt & Manning 9904 ( NBG!) ; Cornellsberg in Stinkfontein Mtns (QDS: 2817 CA), 6 September 1977, Oliver, Tölken & Venter 726 ( NBG!, PRE!) ; Sabiesies, summit of Ploegberg complex (QDS: 2817 CA), 20 September 1989, Viviers 2103 ( NBG!) ; half way to sumit of Cornellsberg (QDS: 2817 CA), 3 August 1986, Williamson 3546 ( NBG!) ; SE facing cliffs of Stinkfonteinberge, SW of Jenkinskop, Nof Eksteenfontein (QDS: 2817 CB), 28 August 2006, Harrower 3229 ( NBG!) ; Sside of rocky terrace on banks of Skaaprivier , Eof Nigramoep (QDS: 2917 AD), 17 September 2007, Harrower 3689 ( NBG!, PRE!) ; Sfacing granite slope on Wildepaardehoek Pass (QDS: 2917 CD), 21 August 2002, Goldblatt & Porter 12089 ( NBG!) ; 2.8 miles [4.5 km] Wof Springbok after Spektakelberg (QDS: 2917 CD), 9 September 1970, Thompson 1047 ( NBG!, PRE!) ; Spektakel (QDS: 2917 DA), 25 August 1941, W.F. Barker 1445 ( NBG!) ; Elandshoogte , Wof Springbok (QDS: 2917 DA), 2 September 1976, Boucher 3118 ( NBG!) ; Spektakelberg, Plaas Naries tussen Kleinsee en Springbok (QDS: 2917 DA), 26 August 1983, Van Wyk 6455 ( PRE!) ; in humidus prope O’okiep (QDS: 2917 DB), September 1883, H. Bolus 6581 ( BOL!, SAM!) ; in humidis inter Nababeep and Modderfontein (QDS: 2917 DB) , H. Bolus 6582 ( BOL!, SAM!) ; Farm Goegap (QDS: 2917 DB), 31 August 1980, Le Roux 2764 ( PRE!) ; O’okiep (QDS: 2917DB), October, Morris s.n. ( BOL!) ; Springbok, Hester Malan Wild Flower Reserve (QDS: 2917 DB), 7 August 1975, Rosch & Le Roux 1249 ( PRE!) ; Farm Keerom 341, slopes Nof Buffelsriver (QDS: 2917 DC), 13 August 2009, Bester 9455 ( PRE!) ; Komaggas Mtns (QDS: 2017 DC), July 1926, Meyer sub Herb. Marloth 6965 ( NBG!, PRE!) ; near Mesklip (QDS: 2917 DD), 18 July 1948, Compton 20727 ( NBG!) ; Kamiesberg, Farm Modderfontein (QDS: 3017 BB), 18 November 1993, Goldblatt & Manning 10418 ( NBG!) ; L’Aus (QDS: 3017 BB), 13 September 1897, Schlechter 11220 ( PRE!) ; ca. 7 km NE of Kharkams, Sslopes of Vyemond se Berg (QDS: 3017 BD), 10 September 2008, Helme 4928 ( NBG!) ; Garies District, 2 km from N7 towards Spoegrivier (QDS: 3017 BD) , Snijman 1660 (NBG!); SE of Pedroskloof towards Gamoep, eastern Kamiesberg Mtns (QDS: 3018 AA), 12 September 2007, Snijman 2157 ( NBG!) ; Kamiesberg, in wet places under rocks near stream in upper part of Khoms Ravine (QDS: 3018 AC), 16 September 1911, Pearson 6585 ( BOL!, SAM!) ; Studer Pass between Garies and Leliefontein (QDS: 3018 AC), 6 September 1966, Thompson 212 ( NBG!, PRE!) ; Kamiesberg, Langkloof (QDS: 3018 CA), 7 September 2006, Snijman 2080 ( NBG!) . Inexact locality: Little Namaqualand, without date, Scully in Herb Nom. Austro-Africanum 1381 ( SAM!, ZT!) .

Figures

FIGURE 18. Pauridia scullyi. Snijman 2082 (NBG!) from the Kamiesberg, Northern Cape, South Africa.

FIGURE 19. Distribution maps for A, Pauridia scullyi from Northern Cape; B, P. maximiliani from Western Cape, South Africa.