Pauridia breviscapa Snijman, 2014

Snijman, Deirdre A., 2014, A taxonomic revision of the genus Pauridia (Hypoxidaceae) in southern Africa, Phytotaxa 182 (1), pp. 1-114 : 50

12. Pauridia breviscapa Snijman , sp. nov. Fig. 21

A new species similar to P. umbraticola with which it shares thin-textured leaves, an ancipitous, pale green scape, yellow flowers and 3-locular ovary but distinguished by the shortened scape (up to 20 mm versus 25–65 mm long), longer pedicels (50–175 mm versus 20–55 mm) and shorter filaments (outer 1.2–1.5 mm and inner 1.5–1.7 mm versus outer 2.5–3.0 mm and inner 3.0– 3.5 mm).

Type:— SOUTH AFRICA. Northern Cape: Sutherland, Houthoek [QDS: 3220 CA], 10 September 1971 , Hanekom 1564 ( NBG!, isotype PRE!) .

Plants 6–19 cm tall, sometimes in small clumps. Corm somewhat globose, 6–14 mm diam., with a leathery, fibreless, brown covering or softly fibrous; roots loosely spreading. Cataphylls membranous, up to 35 mm long. Leaves 2–6, sheathing at base up to 4 cm, suberect to recurved, linear to narrowly lorate, 60–180 × 1–4 mm, shallowly canaliculate, pale green, soft-textured, margin smooth. Inflorescences 1 or 2 in flower at a time, (1)2- flowered, as long as or longer than leaves; scape up to 20 × 2 mm, flattened, usually hidden amongst leaves; bracts (1)2, clasping pedicels up to ¾ of length, lanceolate, attenuate towards apex, 14–40 × 1–5 mm, pale green, translucent-edged or entirely translucent, soft-textured. Flowers pedicellate, stellate, yellow, backed with green in outer whorl, unscented; pedicels suberect, remaining so in fruit, 50–175 × 0.7–1.0 mm, green to reddish brown; tepals 6, narrowly elliptical, 3.5–12.0 mm long, outer 1.5–3.5 mm wide, minutely mucronate, inner 0.7–3.0 mm wide. Stamens 6, erect, outer often slightly shorter than inner, yellow; filaments inserted on ovary rim, outer 1.2–1.5 mm long, inner 1.5–1.7 mm long, both whorls usually as long as anthers; anthers oblong, latrorse, 1.2–2.0 × 0.5 mm, basal lobes up to 0.3 mm long; pollen yellow. Ovary narrowly to broadly obconical, 4.5–9.0 × 2.0–5.0 mm, 3-locular; style ca. 1 mm long; stigma branches erect, narrowly triangular, 2.2–3.0 × ca. 0.7 mm, with recurved basal lobes, 0.5–1.0 mm long, shorter than to equalling stamens, yellow, densely papillose. Capsules obconical, sometimes curved, up to 14 × 3.5–5.5 mm, dehiscence circumscissile. Seeds depressed ellipsoid, 0.4 × 0.4 mm; testa glossy or matt black, of transversally widened cells in ca. 31 longitudinal rows, outer periclinal cell walls shallowly conical with obtuse apex. Flowering period: late-August–September.

Distribution and habitat:—Small and localized populations are found in shrubby, mesic, succulent veld in Northern Cape, along the foothills of the Roggeveld Escarpment and on the slopes below the Escarpment’s rock face ( Fig. 22A ). Pauridia breviscapa favours partially shaded habitats in damp, shallow, mostly loamy soils on south-facing slopes and seepages at the base of rocks, often in association with localized patches of moss.

Diagnostic features:—A feature that most easily distinguishes Pauridia breviscapa is the very short scape (up to 20 mm long) which is usually entirely hidden by the leaves, often leading to the inflorescence bracts being mistaken for newly emerging leaves. The softly fibrous corm, together with the thin-textured leaves and lanceolate bracts, and black seeds in which the testa has longitudinally arranged rows of laterally widened cells, suggest a close alliance with P. umbraticola , found on the mountains of the Olifants River Valley to the west. The two species differ from each other in the relative lengths of the scape, pedicels and filaments. In P. breviscapa the scape reaches up to 20 mm long, the pedicels are 50–175 mm long, the outer filaments are 1.2–1.5 mm and the inner are 1.5–1.7 mm long. The contrasting states in P. umbraticola are: scape 25–65 mm long, pedicels 20–55 mm long, outer filaments 2.5–3.0 mm long and inner filaments 3.0– 3.5 mm long.

Discussion:— Pauridia breviscapa was first collected in 1927 by Robert Harold Compton, Director of the National Botanic Gardens of South Africa from 1919 to 1953,who made extensive collections in the Whitehill District, near Laingsburg, over a seven year period from 1923 to 1929 ( Compton 1931).

Additional specimens examined (paratypes):— SOUTH AFRICA. Northern Cape: Tankwa National Park, S slopes of Elandsberg (QDS: 3219 BB), 6 August 2007, Bester 7788 ( PRE!) ; Sutherland District, Farm Windhoek 112, Roggeveld Escarpment below Sneeukrans (QDS: 3220 AA), 14 September 2008, Clark & O’Connor 259 ( NBG!) ; Roggeveld, Soekop, old Soekop camp (QDS: 3220 AA), 3 September 2004, Rosch 229 ( NBG!) ; Roggeveld, Koornlandskloof 70, ridge Nof Kruiskloof (QDS: 3220 AB), 26 September 2009, Helme 6215 ( NBG!) ; Ceres District, Farm Thyskraal 80 (QDS: 3220 CC), 7 September 1986, Cloete & Haselau 289 ( NBG!) ; Koedoes Mtns (QDS: 3220 CC), 14 September 2009, Goldblatt et al. 13326 ( NBG!) ; Sutherland District, Thyshoogte on Ceres road (QDS: 3220 CC), 2 September 1990, Oliver 9680 ( NBG!) ; Sutherland , Farm Meintjisplaas, Klein Roggeveld (QDS: 3220DC), 30 August 2007, Goldblatt & Porter 12918 ( NBG!) ; Klein Roggeveld, Farm De Hoop (QDS: 3220 DC) , 14 September 2004, Snijman 1937 ( NBG!) ; Laingsburg Division, Whitehill Ridge, Sside (QDS: 3320 BA) , 3000 ft [914 m], 8 August 1927, Compton 3241 ( BOL!) .

Figures

FIGURE 21. Pauridia breviscapa. Snijman 1937 (NBG!) from the Klein Roggeveld, Western Cape, South Africa.

FIGURE 22. Distribution maps for A, Pauridia breviscapa from Northern Cape; B, P. umbraticola from Western Cape, South Africa.