Kieslingia chilensis Faúndez, Saldivia, 2014

Saldivia, Patricio, Faúndez, Luis, Marticorena, Alicia & Panero, José L., 2014, Kieslingia chilensis (Asteraceae: Astereae), a new genus and species from northern Chile, Phytotaxa 177 (5), pp. 280-290 : 283-288

Kieslingia chilensis Faúndez, Saldivia & A.E.Martic., sp. nov. ( Fig. 2–3 )

Type: — CHILE. Reg. de Atacama: Prov. de Huasco , Qda. Algarrobal, 25 Oct. 1983, G. Mieres s.n. (holotype CONC 178410 !; isotypes CONC 178411 !, SGO 163604 !, SI!, TEX!, AGUCH!) .

Frutices usque ad 40 cm alti et 50 cm in diametro. Ramis basi teretibus cicatricatis, juvenilibus cylindraceis, breviter hispidis. Folia sessilia, alternata, linearia, 8–9 mm longa et 1 mm lata, apice profunde trifida, lobis 2–5 mm longis et 0.5 mm latis, valde acutis vel mucronatis. Capitula in apice ramorum solitaria, in ramis brevibus fere aphyllis, hemisphaerica, 1.5–2 cm in diametro, discoidea, homogama. Involucri phylla in 4–5 seriebus, exteriora linearia, atroviridia, hirsuta, longe acuminata, 3 mm longa et medio 0.3 mm lata, intermedia pallide brunnescentia, margine scariosa nervis atroviridibus, apice longe acuminata, interiora 6 mm longa et maxime 1–1.2 mm lata, scariosa nervo medio eminenti, glabra sed acumine sparse pubescentia. Receptaculum planum epaleaceum. Flores flavi hermaphroditi, numerosi (50–60). Pappus setis albidis applanatis, facile deciduis, in seriebus duabus dispositis, externis brevibus (0.5–1 mm longis), internis corollarum apices attingentibus, apice leviter barbellatis et dilatatis. Corolla tubulosa, infundibuliformis, actinomorpha, 4.5 mm longa, 5-dentata, dentibus brevibus ad maturitatem reflexis. Androecium synanthereum antheris facile separabilibus, basi obtusis, apice ovato-lanceolatis. Stylus ramis longe exsertis, leviter geniculatis, in dimidio superiore breviter papillosis. Cypsela oblonga, leviter appressa, 4-costata, 3–4 mm longa et 1 mm lata, dense albo-hirsuta; carpopodium breviter elongatum, glabrum, concavum.

Low shrubs, up to 40 cm high and 50 cm in diameter. Basal branches grey, terete, marked by the scars of past leaves, vegetative branches brown-green, hispid with short conical hairs, strongly resinous. Leaves sessile, alternate, linear, 8–9 mm long and 1 mm wide, apices deeply trilobed, sections 2–5 mm long and 0.5 mm width, very acute or mucronate; occasionally some leaves with a couple of teeth between the base and apices, margins strongly revolute, resinous, hirsute with short conical stiff hairs. Capitula discoid, homogamous, solitary on the apices of essentially leafless peduncles or sometimes with a few bract-like leaves. Involucres hemispheric 1.5–2 cm in diameter. Phyllaries arranged in 4–5 series; external series linear, dark green, hirsute, long acuminate, 3 mm long and 0.3 mm wide across the middle area; intermediate series light brown, edges scarious with dark green nerves, apices long acuminate; internal series 6 mm long and 1–1.2 mm wide at its widest, scarious with middle nerve prominent on abaxial surface, glabrous, sparsely pubescent on the acumen. Receptacles flattened, epaleate, alveolate. Florets isomorphic, numerous (50–60), corollas yellow, tubular, infundibuliform, actinomorphic, 4.5 mm. long in bud to 6 mm long in anthesis and 1 mm width in their wider portion, with 5 short lobes, 1 mm deep, reflexed to recurved in maturity, edges and apices thickened, adaxial surface glabrous, abaxial surface with abundant shallowly stipitate papillae on the apical portion of the tubes and lobes. Anthers 5-synantherous, with anther easily separable; stamen filaments very thin, inserted at the base of the wider portion of corolla, anther 1.7 mm long and 0.2 mm wide, appendages ovate-lanceolate 0.7–1 mm long and 0.2 width, bases obovate, slightly reflexed. Ovary inferior, shallowly biconvex, strongly hirsute, whitish, 1.5 mm long and 0.5 mm width, style branches 4 mm long, largely exerted from the corolla, slightly geniculate on the middle portion, linear-flattened, slightly wider on the middle portion and slightly claviform, densely covered with short papillae on the upper half of the external side, initially on marginal stigmatic lines for posterior covering the whole apex, internal side glabrous. Cypsela oblong in outline, slightly flattened, with four light brown ribs, two prominent lateral and two tenuous dorsiventral, visible from carpopodium to 1/4 or 1/3 of the basal half of cypsela, strongly hirsute whitish, epidermis ochre, 3–4 mm long and 1 mm wide, pappus with numerous bristles, whitish, flattened, easily caducous, scabrid, arranged in two series; external series 15–20, 0.5–1 mm long; internal 15–20, 5– 6 mm long, apically barbellate, reaching the corolla apices during anthesis, slightly broader apically. Carpopodium of 7–10 rows of cells shortly elongated horizontally, glabrous, rounded, regular and concave.

Paratypes: — CHILE. Reg. de Atacama, Prov. de Huasco, Cerros del Toro , 28° 35’ 18” S, 70° 26’ 15” W, 2359 m a.s.l., 15 December 2011, M . Rosas 7871 ( CONC 177551 , SGO 163605 ) .

Etymology: —The generic name honors the Argentinean plant taxonomist Roberto Kiesling, expert in the South American Cactaceae and the flora of northwestern Argentina. The specific epithet alludes to Chile, the country to which the species is endemic.

Distribution and Habitat: —This Chilean endemism is restricted to the Andean Pre-mountain Range along the Huasco river basin in the southern portion of the Atacama region, between elevations of 1.600 and 2.500 meters ( Fig. 4 ). According to the vegetation classification of Chile by Gajardo (1994), Kieslingia chilensis is part of the formation “Flowering Desert of the Foothills”, associated locally to communities dominated by Balsamocarpon brevifolium Clos and Adesmia argyrophylla Philippi. It grows on hillsides preferably with north and east exposure on substrata with moderate to abundant rocky outcrops.

Phenology: —Flowering from mid-September to the end of October and fruiting between mid-October to mid- December.

Conservation Category: — Kieslingia chilensis should be considered Endangered ( EN) under the IUCN (2012) categories and criteria: B1 ab(iii), because it has been found only in a few places close to its type locality, with an extent of occurrence estimated at less than 1.000 km 2, and where reduction of the area of occupancy and habitat loss is a latent threat, mainly because of mining activity .

Discussion: —Our molecular phylogeny shows that Kieslingia is sister to Guynesomia , a genus recently established as a segregate of Nardophyllum , based on Nardophyllum scoparium Philippi (1894: 434) ( Bonifacino & Sancho 2004). Because of the sister relationship of Guynesomia and Kieslingia we place Kieslingia chilensis in subtribe Hinterhuberinae Cuatrecasas ( Nesom 1993; Nesom 1994; Nesom & Robinson 2007) of tribe Astereae . Guynesomia and Kieslingia are found in similar habitats in Andean pre-mountain range areas with Guynesomia endemic to the Coquimbo region and Huasco River basin and Kieslingia exclusively in the Huasco River basin in the Atacama region just northwest of the northernmost limit of the distribution of Guynesomia ( Fig. 4 ).

Even though Guynesomia and Kieslingia are sister and grow in a similar vegetation in a relatively small area of the Andes, they differ considerably in many morphological features ( Table 1). Kieslingia has homogamous solitary discoid capitula and trifid leaves, whereas Guynesomia has disciform, heterogamous capitula arranged in panicle-like cymes, and entire leaves ( Bonifacino & Sancho 2004).

Discoid homogamous capitula are rare within Hinterhuberinae ( Table 1) and found only in genera that belong to the South American Chiliotrichum group ( Bonifacino 2009; Bonifacino & Funk 2012). Discoid heads are found in this group both at the generic level (e.g. Llerasia , Nardophyllum , Aylacophora , Ocyroe ) as well as at the specific level, as in the case of the genus Chiliotrichiopsis Cabrera (1937: 172) , where one of its three species ( C. peruviana Nesom et al. 2001: 430 ) has discoid homogamous capitula. Therefore, in Astereae , the reduction of the corolla limb and complete loss of female ligulate florets has evolved independently within several groups of the tribe ( Karaman-Castro 2006). Furthermore, trilobed leaves are rare in Astereae and extremely rare in Hinterhuberinae which is characterized by having ericoid leaves with entire leaf margins ( Nesom 1993; Nesom & Robinson 2007), with Floscaldasia azorelloides Sklenář & Robinson (2000: 146) of Ecuador and Westoniella triunguifolia Cuatrecasas (1977: 478) of Costa Rica being the only representatives of this subtribe with leaves strongly tripartite or trilobed.

Kieslingia , with its alveolate, epaleate receptacles similar to those of Guynesomia , does not share the characteristics of the Chiliotrichum group ( Bonifacino & Sancho 2004; Bonifacino 2009; Bonifacino & Funk 2012) which is defined by its paleate and smooth (not alveolate) receptacles. Karaman-Castro & Urbatsch (2009) confirmed the exclusion of Guynesomia from the Chiliotrichum group and suggested that together with Diplostephium , both genera possibly could be included within the Hinterhubera group ( Nesom 1994) and are distantly related to any other genus with radiate capitula within Hinterhuberinae . Kieslingia , Guynesomia and Diplostephium have epaleate and alveolate receptacles, but our molecular study shows that Diplostephium is not closely related to Kieslingia and Guynesomia but rather to other genera of northern South America including Parastrephia ( Fig. 1 ).

Notwithstanding the fact that we did not sample all members of subtribe Hinterhuberinae , our results show that relationships among genera within subtribe Hinterhuberinae are weakly supported requiring further DNA sequences and taxon sampling to obtain a strongly supported and resolved robust phylogeny of the tribe. Recent studies of the Andean Astereae (Karaman 2006; Karaman & Urbatsch 2009) suggest that Hinterhuberinae sensu Nesom & Robinson (2007) is paraphyletic as well as most informal groups proposed for the Hinterhuberinae sensu Nesom (1994) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Maximum likelihood tree of the ITS marker for selected members of South American Astereae. Numbers above branches represent bootstrap values.

FIGURE 2. Kieslingia chilensis. A. Habit. B. Phenology of capitula. C. Leaf: abaxial and adaxial surfaces. D. Phyllaries: internal, central and external. E. Floret. F. Stamen. G. Style, superior portion. H. Bristle external from pappus. I. Bristle internal from pappus. Illustrations from the paratype (SGO) by Daniel Martínez Piña.

FIGURE 3. Kieslingia chilensis. A. Habitat and habit. B. Complete specimen. C. Capitula, lateral view. D. Capitula, superior view. E. Capitula with fruit dispersion. F. Leaves, detail. Photographs by Gustavo Mieres.

FIGURE 4. Distribution map of Kieslingia chilensis in triangles and Guynesomia scoparia (from CONC) in circles.