Pauridia gracilipes (Schltr.) Snijman & Kocyan (2013: 27)

Snijman, Deirdre A., 2014, A taxonomic revision of the genus Pauridia (Hypoxidaceae) in southern Africa, Phytotaxa 182 (1), pp. 1-114 : 75-76

21. Pauridia gracilipes (Schltr.) Snijman & Kocyan (2013: 27)

Bas.:— Hypoxis gracilipes Schlechter (1900: 88) ≡ Ianthe gracilipes (Schltr.) Williams (1901: 292) ≡ Spiloxene gracilipes (Schltr.) Garside (1936: 268) . Type (lectotype designated by Snijman & Kocyan 2013: 27):— SOUTH AFRICA. [Western Cape], PiqueniersKloof [QDS: 3218DB], 2000 ft [610 m], 29 June 1896, R. Schlechter 7957 (BOL!, isolectotypes, E, K! No. K000255996 [image], COI! [image], GRA!, LISC! [image], PRE!, S! [image])

Plants 2.5–23(–30) cm tall. Corm somewhat ovoid to globose, 7–27 mm diam., sometimes lightly fibrous distally, densely encircled by roots. Cataphylls membranous, dark brown distally, up to 30 mm long. Leaves 2–10, sheathing up to 30 mm, suberect to outspread, slightly arched, linear to broadly lanceolate, 30–220 × (1–)2–10(–27) mm, if broad then tapering evenly upwards, canaliculate proximally or up to ca. ⅔ of length, often carinate distally with obtuse midrib abaxially, dark to pale green, sometimes flushed beetroot-red proximally, firmto rarely thin-textured, margin sometimes minutely papillate, occasionally reddish. Inflorescences 1 or 2 in flower at a time, 1-flowered, ca. as long as or exceeding leaves; scape 20–190 × 1.5–2.0 mm, subterete, pale green, pale pink or pale reddish brown; bract 1, filiform, non-clasping, 1–9(–30) × 0.2–1.0 mm, colourless. Flower pedicellate, stellate, pale to deep yellow or pale to deep orange, backed with pale green or reddish brown in outer whorl, sometimes only distally, contrasting colouring less marked in inner whorl, unscented; pedicel suberect at anthesis, remaining erect or deflexing to spreading somewhat in fruit, 15–150 × 1–2 mm, subterete, pale green to pale pink to reddish brown; tepals 6, oblong-lanceolate to elliptical, 5–25 mm long, outer 2.0– 7 mm wide, minutely mucronate, inner 1.7–5.0 mm wide. Stamens 6, suberect to spreading, subequal or outer whorl slightly shorter than inner, yellow or orange; filaments inserted on ovary rim, outer 1.0– 2.5 mm long, inner 1.5–2.5 mm long, both whorls shorter than anthers; anthers narrowly oblong, latrorse, 2.5–7.0(–10.5) × 1.0– 1.5 mm, basal lobes up to 1.0 mm long; pollen yellow. Ovary narrowly to broadly obconical, 2–10 × 1.3–5.0 mm, predominantly 1-locular or sometimes partially 3-locular in proximal half; style 0.3–3.0 mm long, tapering upwards; stigma branches suberect to spreading, lanceolate, 2.5–6.0 × 0.7–1.7 mm, ca. shorter than to as long as stamens, yellow or orange, sometimes with basal lobes up to ca. 1 mm long and spreading between filaments, densely papillose. Capsule narrowly to broadly obconical, 3–14 × 2–8 mm, dehiscence circumscissile. Seeds depressed ovoid, 0.45–0.65 × 0.37–0.55 mm; testa brownish, of ca. 20 closely or somewhat moderately spaced, longitudinal rows of bluntly conical to rounded, hump-like projections, outline of anticlinal cell walls not evident. Flowering period: (June–)July–September(–November at high altitudes).

Distribution and habitat:— Pauridia gracilipes is widespread from the Kamiesberg in Namaqualand and the Bokkeveld Escarpment, close to Nieuwoudtville, through to the Matsikammaberg, Cederberg and Olifants River Valley, extending southwards to the Piketberg, West Coast and the outskirts of Cape Town as well as eastwards to the Gydouw Pass and Hex River Valley ( Fig. 33B ).

Diagnostic features:—One of the more common species of Pauridia in the northwestern and southwestern Cape, P gracilipes belongs to what Nel (1914b) referred to as the Ovatae Group, defined by a globose corm encircled by persistent roots, a solitary-flowered inflorescence with just one filiform bract, and a flower with a unilocular ovary. Here P. gracilipes is circumscribed to include plants of widely varying sizes but diagnosed and readily separated from the closely allied white-flowered S. ovata from the Overberg in the east by its yellow to orange flowers.

Variation:— Pauridia gracilipes shows small shifts in the size and proportions of the leaves and flowers in different parts of its range. This variation is mostly continuous, but a few populations show small but discrete differences which are worthy of mention.

On the Kamiesberg and the Bokkeveld Escarpment in the north of the range flowers of Pauridia gracilipes have equally long outer and inner stamens. In contrast, plants from the Matsikamma Massif extending southwards into the southwestern Cape have distinctly biseriate stamens with the outer whorl clearly shorter than the inner. The filaments throughout the geographic range, nevertheless, are invariably shorter than the anthers.

Also on the Kamiesberg, and the Cape Fold Mountains in the northwestern and southwestern Cape, 300 km to the south, are small, localized groups of broad-leaved plants which are restricted to shaded, seasonally wet rock crevices and moss-covered rocky banks. When seen as isolated herbarium specimens these plants, with leaves expanded up to 8–27 mm wide, often appear to be distinct, but field studies show that their dimensions grade into those of plants found in slightly more exposed positions nearby. Thus in herbaria these localized broad-leaved plants have often been misidentified as white-flowered S. ovata , which is restricted to the lowland renosterveld in the east.

In shallow soils throughout the entire range there are large populations of dwarfed plants in which the inflorescence extends only a short distance above ground. Of these diminutive plants, those from along the Olifants River Valley match the type of Spiloxene cuspidata (Nel) Garside , which Nel (1914b) inaccurately described as having two filiform bracts per inflorescence, although only one bract is evident on the type specimen.

Some of the tallest plants of P. gracilipes are concentrated around the granite outcrops near Langebaan on the Atlantic Coast. Apart from their size these plants are also unusual in having pedicles that reflex so strongly that the capsules are inverted through 1800 while maturing. Unfortunately the taxonomic significance of this habit cannot be gauged until the character is better understood elsewhere in its range.

Most notable amongst the variable populations within P. gracilipes are several small, localized groups of plants found on the high-lying granite domes of the Kamiesberg, Namaqualand. These have particularly large flowers with broad outer tepals and the flowers are most often solid orange apart from an attractive reddish blush on the abaxial surface. It is notable that no other plants within Pauridia have orange stamens and stigmas, as well as orange tepals. Being morphologically and ecologically distinct from the remaining populations of P. gracilipes I recognize these uniquely coloured high altitude populations as a separate taxon, subsp. speciosa .

Key to subspecies

1. Flower yellow; tepals 5–16(–19) mm long, outer tepals 2.0– 5.5 mm wide, inner tepals 1.7–5.0 mm wide ........................... ....................................................................................................................................................................... subsp. gracilipes

- Flower orange; tepals (10.5–) 14–25 mm long, outer tepals 4–7 mm wide, inner tepals 3–5 mm wide .......... subsp. speciosa

Figures

FIGURE 33. Distribution maps for A, Pauridia ovata from Western Cape; B, P. gracilipes subsp. gracilipes (dots) from Northern and Western Cape; P.gracilipes subsp. speciosa (triangles) from Northern Cape, South Africa.