Haplopappus kingii (Phil.) Reiche, Anales Univ. Chile 109: 41. 1901, as " kingi"

Garcia, Nicolas, Cadiz-Veliz, Aron, Villalobos, Macarena & Morales, Vanezza, 2024, Taxonomic novelties in Haplopappus (Asteraceae, Astereae) from Chile, PhytoKeys 237, pp. 201-218 : 201

Haplopappus kingii (Phil.) Reiche, Anales Univ. Chile 109: 41. 1901, as " kingi"

Figs 6 , 7

Haplodiscus kingii Phil., Anales Univ. Chile 87: 615. 1894, as " kingi ".

Type.

Chile. Región de Atacama: Provincia de Huasco , Carrizal, 1885, T. King 62 (holotype: SGO! [SGO000005614]; isotype: E! [E00253112]) .

Description.

Shrubs, ascending to erect, aromatic. Branching unknown. Stems slightly corrugated, coppery to yellowish, sparsely covered by minute stiff and bulbous trichomes (<0.5 mm) and scattered sessile glands (same indumentum up to the peduncles), glutinous. Leaves (1.0-)1.5-2.6(-3.1) × (0.3-)0.4-1.2(-1.9) cm; laminas oblong to oblanceolate, gradually reduced in size towards the tip of branches, usually around twice as long as they are wide; bases truncate to shortly decurrent; apices acute, rarely obtuse, mucronate; margins strongly dentate, teeth 2.0-3.0 × 1.5-3.0 mm at the base, mucronate, (4-)6-8(-9) teeth on each side; leaves densely covered by minute stiff trichomes, multicellular, 0.2 mm long, and sessile yellowish glands, coriaceous, glutinous, simple, sessile, alternate; venation with a dominant midvein and inconspicuous secondary veins. Capitula discoid, homogamous, usually clustered on short secondary branches, up to 3 capitula per branch, within a paniculiform synflorescence (paniculodium sensu Klingenberg 2007), that tends to take the aspect of a pseudoraceme. Peduncles obsolete due to leaves growing up to the capitulum, rarely up to 3 mm long. Involucres 10-12 × 9-18 mm, cylindrical. Phyllaries spirally arranged in 7-8 series, hyaline margin from the base to the apex, up to 0.5 mm wide on its widest portion, parenchymatous portion covered by minute sessile glands, mucronate; external series 4.2-5.7 × 1.7-2.5 mm at its widest, oblong to obovate, mostly burgundy (parenchymatous), sclerenchymatous basally, acute; intermediate series 5.4-7.6 × 1.8-2.3 mm at its widest, oblong to oblanceolate, acute, sclerenchymatous on proximal half; internal series 7.7-11.0 × 1.3-2.2 mm across the middle area, linear, apices acute, parenchymatous on distal third, sclerenchymatous elsewhere, margins and below hyaline. Receptacles flat, epaleate, alveolate. Disk florets 6.4-7.0 × 0.6-1.0 mm at their widest portion, numerous (38-61), perfect, corollas pale yellow (on herbarium specimens), actinomorphic, infundibuliform, with 5 short lobes, 0.5-0.8 mm deep, edges thickened, glabrous, rarely shortly papillate; anthers 2.9-3.1 mm long; styles 5.4-6.3 mm long, with two style branches, 1.1-1.9 mm long each, papillate on proximal half, differentiated distal half with multicellular trichomes; ovaries 2.5-3.3 × 0.3-0.7 mm, sparsely hispid. Cypselae: achenes 5.0-6.5 × 2.0 mm, linear, wider towards the middle portion, slightly flattened, asymmetrical, ribbed, only two lateral ribs prominent, hispid; pappus 4.1-9.5 mm long, with numerous bristles (55-61), chestnut to cinnamon, persistent, barbellate.

Distribution and habitat.

This species is endemic to the Atacama Region in Chile (28°25'-29°05'S), mostly occurring in the middle portions of the Carrizal and Huasco river basins (Fig. 1C ). It has been registered growing mostly on roadsides in mountainous areas, between 1500-3200 m a.s.l. There is a single record in the coast south of Huasco, which we consider may be an accidental occurrence.

Etymology.

The specific epithet honours Thomas King, English citizen who collected several specimens in the Atacama Desert during the late 19th century.

Phenology.

Flowering from November to January and fruiting from January to March.

Conservation status.

Haplopappus kingii is only known from few herbarium specimens and field photographs (P. Dandois, personal communication, 7 July 2023). In accordance with the IUCN (2022), the species is known from 12 localities (Fig. 1C ), presenting an estimated Extent of Occurrence (EOO) of 7,087 km2 and Area of Occupancy (AOO) of 56 km2. Although the estimations of EOO and AOO reach the values of threatened categories (Vulnerable and Endangered, respectively), there is not much information about the current state of the populations. The lack of these data does not allow us to classify the species under any threatened category. However, it is known that the species inhabits an area affected by the development of mining activities ( SONAMI 2023) and the severe drought in Central Chile, which has produced a shortfall on normal precipitation of about 20-40% between 2010-2014 in the study area (CR2 2015). Moreover, the projections of climate change to 2050 estimate a decrease in precipitation (2-8 mm) and increase in temperature (1.8-2.5 °C) ( MMA 2023b). Consequently, the area where the species is distributed will face a moderate to high risk of the loss of flora given the changes in precipitation ( MMA 2023a). Considering all of the above, we inferred a change in the quality of the habitat of H. kingii but as the number of known localities exceeds thresholds for threatened categories, we propose the species conservation status as Near Threatened (NT).

Additional specimens examined.

Chile. Región de Atacama: Provincia de Huasco, El Bronce - Mantos Verdes, 1550 m a.s.l., 28°25'S, 70°21'W, November 2007, S. Teillier & J. Delaunoy 5566 (CONC 166856); Quebrada Jilguero, crece en quebradas y laderas, abundante, 600 m a.s.l., 28°35'S, 70°41'W, 2 December 2008, J. Reyes 4802 (ULS); Quebrada La Escoria , precordillera, 28°27'40.93"S, 70°25'39.22"W, 14 March 2013, G. Mieres s.n. (CONC 179797); Quebrada El Molle, precordillera, 28°31'7.48"S, 70°20'47.86"W, 11 January 2013, G. Mieres s.n. (CONC 179877, EIF 17306); Quebrada La Gloria , precordillera, 28°34'24.38"S, 70°22'7.48"W, 23 August 2012, G. Mieres s.n. (CONC 179800); Valle del rio Laguna Grande , 2100-3000 m a.s.l., 28°49'S, 70°00'W, 14 February 1981, M.T. Kalin-Arroyo 81565 (CONC 53397); Rio Chollay , crece en ladera y lecho de quebrada, escasa, 2050 m a.s.l., 29°05'S, 70°08'W, 17 January 1994, G. Arancio et al. 94119 (ULS); Huasco, crece entre rocas, 20 m a.s.l., 28°30'S, 71°16'W, 13 December 2008, J. Reyes 6260 (ULS) .

Taxonomic notes.

Haplopappus kingii had been considered a distinct species in treatments of Haplopappus by Reiche (1902) and Hall (1928). However, Klingenberg (2007) reduced H. kingii into the synonymy of H. remyanus in H. sect. Leiachaenium DC., a decision that was followed by the latest catalogue of the vascular flora of Chile ( Rodríguez et al. 2018). Haplopappus kingii can be differentiated from the latter species by its hispid indumentum (vs. glabrous and glutinous), leaves evenly distributed throughout the stem up to the synflorescence (vs. leaves distinctly clustered towards the base of the plant, flowering branches sparsely foliate below the capitula), and outer series of phyllaries 1.7-2.5 mm wide (vs. 2.5-3.0 mm wide).

However, a close inspection of descriptions and herbarium specimens suggest that H. kingii better fits within Klingenberg’s (2007) H. sect. Chromochaeta DC., where it most closely resembles H. parvifolius (DC.) A. Gray and H. retinervius (Kuntze) Klingenb. Haplopappus kingii differs from both species by its leaves with mostly flat margin (vs. margin undulate) and leaf apex acute (vs. obtuse to rounded). More specifically, H. kingii differs from H. parvifolius by its hispid indumentum (vs. glabrous plants), villous achenes (vs. glabrous achenes) and green leaves (vs. glaucous leaves), and from H. retinervius by its leaves oblong to oblanceolate (vs. broadly obovate to nearly orbicular) and more than 35 florets (vs. less than 30 florets) per capitulum ( Klingenberg 2007).

In the citation of the type material, we recognize Thomas King as the collector of the sample, which differs from the name mentioned on the protologue, "Georgius King" ( Philippi 1894: 615). The holotype at SGO (Fig. 7A ) is accompanied by four pieces of paper, each of them with the following information: name of the species (" Pyrrhocoma kingii Ph."), the name of the collector and the year of collection ("George King 1885"), the locality ( “Carrizal”) and what we interpreted as the collection number ("No 62"). On the other hand, the specimen at E (Fig. 7B ) is attached to a piece of paper in which it is possible to read "No 62" and “Carrizal”. Additionally, there is a printed label saying "Chili. Coll.: Mr. Thos. King. Presented July 1900.", that suggests the sample was sent to Edinburgh by Thomas King himself. The labels with the name of the locality and the collection number seem to have the same handwriting, which suggests they were written by the collector. Thomas (or Tomas) King is a well-known collaborator of R.A. Philippi, who sent him several samples of plants from the Carrizal valley in the Atacama Region and some of these samples were used to describe new species ( Philippi 1892; e.g. Leucocoryne narcissoides Phil., Alstroemeria kingii Phil., Valeriana senecioides Phil.). Apart from the description of this species, the name Georgius King has not appeared in other publications. Therefore, we assume that Philippi made a mistake when writing the name of the collector on the label of the holotype specimen of Haplodiscus kingii at SGO and in the species protologue.

Figures

Figure 1. Distribution of Haplopappus in central Chile A H. colliguayensis (red dot), H. undulatus (blue dots) B H. teillieri (red dots), H. integerrimus (blue dots), H. punctatus (orange dots) C H. kingii (red dots), H. parvifolius (green dots), H. remyanus (blue dots), H. retinervius (orange dots).

Figure 6. Haplopappus kingii (Phil.) Reiche A, B habit C flowering branch D, E detail of the abaxial and adaxial face of leaves, respectively, showing the characteristic hispid pubescence F branch showing several sessile capitula, fascicles of leaves and hispid stem. All photographs by Philippe Dandois.

Figure 7. Type specimens of Haplopappus kingii (Phil.) Reiche A SGO 000005614 (holotype) B E 00253112 (isotype).