Merciera brevifolia

Cupido, Christopher N., 2003, Systematic studies in the genus Merciera (Campanulaceae): A re-assessment of species boundaries, Adansonia (3) 25 (1), pp. 33-44 : 42-43

— The Merciera brevifolia 2 group.

This group is a well-defined entity separated by CA and PCO. It is characterized by a reduction in the number of calyx lobes, corolla lobes and stamens, the presence of hairs on the calyx lobe margins, and the absence of leaf hairs on the abaxial surface. In addition to the floral and leaf characters, it also occupies a geographical range west of the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the Western Cape.

All previous workers considered specimens here assigned to the M. brevifolia group 2 as belonging to M. brevifolia . SONDER (1865) described M. brevifolia as having four or five corolla lobes, but did not recognize the four corolla lobed specimens taxonomically. The type specimen of M. brevifolia, Masson in herb. BM (I have seen a scanned image) does not resemble any of the specimens in M. brevifolia group 2, but rather suspiciously, specimens in the tenuifolia var. tenuifolia group. In the light of the substantial evidence favouring the recognition of the M. brevifolia 2 group, it should be given formal taxonomic status.