Stoebe microphylla Candolle (1838: 259)

Koekemoer, Marinda, 2016, A monograph of Stoebe and Seriphium (Gnaphalieae, Asteraceae) in southern Africa and neighbouring islands, Phytotaxa 242 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

8. Stoebe microphylla Candolle (1838: 259) . Type :— SOUTH AFRICA. In Africa Capensi ad Langekloof, 20 January 1830, Drège 2119 (G-DC!, lectotype, designated here).

Wiry, erect, much-branched shrubs, up to 0.35 m tall. Branches numerous; very slender and whip-like with rounded, almost club-shaped tips; secondary branches with a somewhat angled appearance, developing from below the synflorescence of the previous season, somewhat hairy, mostly arachnoid; main branches up to 2.5 mm in diam.,

STOEBE AND SERIPHIUM ( GNAPHALIEAE )

Phytotaxa 242 (1) © 2016 Magnolia Press • 67 flowering branches up to 0.5 mm in diam. Leaves minute, lanceolate, 4 mm long, tightly adpressed, not overlapping on mature stems; tips acute; adaxially tomentose; abaxially arachnoid. Synflorescences of many capitula in terminal, globose heads, up to 15 mm in diam. Capitula homogamous, discoid, 1-flowered. Receptacle reduced to an inflated branch tip with short stalk-like outgrowths. Involucral bracts 6–10; outermost foliaceous, about half the length of innermost; innermost 5.0– 5.5 mm long, milky-white in the upper part, often with a pinkish tinge in lower half, narrow, acuminate with blunt tips, as long as the florets. Florets bisexual; plum-red; corolla lobes narrow, erect, opening cup-like with recurved tips. Stamens 5, apical appendages lanceolate, basally frilly-tailed. Style bifid, base swollen. Nectaries present. Cypselas narrow cylindrical, yellowish, 2 mm long, smooth with short adpressed or ascending hairs in upper part below the annulus, cells well defined with a wart-like surface texture under high magnification; annulus and carpopodium well developed. Pappus setae 12–16, slightly fused at the base, as long as the corolla tube; barbed in lower third, plumose in upper part, plumes spreading, rigid, about one fifth as long as the setae, tips acute. Flowering mainly in March, occasionally in January, February, April and May.

Distribution: —Central southern Cape, with a disjunct population on Cockscomb, in the Great Winterhoek Mountains northwest of Uitenhage. Figure 26 .

Ecology: —Sandstone soils on arid northern hill slopes, between elevations of 1 100 and 1 400 m.

Conservation status: —Least Concern.

Notes: —This species is similar to St. schultzii but can be distinguished by the presence of pappus, the prominent white involucral bracts, which are as long as the florets, as well as by pinkish-red florets.

68 • Phytotaxa 242 (1) © 2016 Magnolia Press

KOEKEMOER

Additional specimens examined:— SOUTH AFRICA, Western Cape. Langeberg, Boosmansbos Wilderness Area on N side above Witbooisrivier (3320DD), 15 January 1985, McDonald & Morley 1112 (PRE); Grootvadersbosch State Forest, N side of Langeberg above Witbooisrivier, arid mountain fynbos (3320DD), 19 September 1985, McDonald & Morley 999 (NBG); Oudtshoorn, Gamka Pass, sandstone summit (3321BC), 24 May 1950, Esterhuysen 17125 (BOL, NBG); Oudtshoorn dist., Gamka Mountain Reserve, ridge connecting Bakenskop & Snyganskop (3321CB), 24 January 1983, Cattell & Cattell 229 (NBG, PRE); Klein Karoo by Muiskraal (3321CC), 26 March 1989, Bohnen 8998 (NBG); Ladismith, Gysmanshoek Pass, N side above Kortfontein (3321CC), 13 March 1978, Boucher 3691 (NBG); Near Riversdale in Gysmanshoek Pass, 30 km from Barrydale on the farm Kanetberg (3321CC), 29 November 1995, Koekemoer 1136 (PRE); Calitzdorp, Gamka Reserve, Snygans—Baakenskop area (3321DB), 22 May 1975, Esterhuysen 33831 (BOL); Cloetes Pass, Mossel Bay div., 1000' (3321DD), 1 September 1913, Muir 1455 (BOL, PRE); Oudtshoorn, Outeniquas, N slopes, Jonkersberg (3322CC), April 1979, Bond 1741 (PRE); Oudtshoorn, farm klein Moerasrivier, about 7 km from main road (3322CC), 18 September 1990, Koekemoer 474 (PRE); Moerasrivier, N foothills of the Outeniqua Mountains, rocky S slope (3322CC), 19 March 1976, Thompson 2722 (NBG, PRE); In saxosis, Klipdrift, in Karoo Magna (3322CD), 7 March 1893, Schlechter 2260 (BOL, E, G, K, P, PRE); George, Outeniquas N slopes of Outeniquas at E end of Waboomskraal (3322CD), 7 February 1983, Vlok 529 (NBG, PRE); Uniondale, Potjiesrivierhoogte Pass (3323CA), 21 April 1965, Acocks 23613 (PRE); Uniondale, hills near Avontuur (3323CA), March 1922, Fourcade 2077 (BOL, K, PRE); Union Poort between Uniondale and Avontuur (3323CA), 2 May 1974, Goldblatt 1742 (NBG, PRE, S); Avontuur, hill NE of Avontuur, N slopes near the top (3323CA), 19 September 1990, Koekemoer 487 (PRE); Afr. Austr.: Langekloof (vor Keurboomsrivier) auf steiniger Bergplätzen (3323CC), Drege (S); Long Kloof (3323CC), January, Drege (K); Bredasdorp, Elim (3419DB), 9 December 1936, Wall 275 (S); Riversdale, Gysmanshoek (3421AA), 8 December 1938, Wall 279 (S); George, Gwaing River, top of cliff at W bank of river (3422AB), 26 May 1984, O'Callaghan, Van Wyk & Fellingham 240 (NBG, PRE); George, Eastern headland of Duttons Cove, roadside, near summit of rise (3422AB), 7 February 1993, Victor & Hoare 82 (PRE); S. Cape, George, Gwaing River Estuary, slopes overlooking parking at Gwaing River (3422AB), 16 August 1996, Victor 357 (PRE); Port Natal et Afr. Merid., Drege (G); Prom. B. Spei, Drege (G); CBS, Drege (E); Afr. Austr., 1839, Drege (K); In solo arenoso–calcareo, Zoetendalsvalley, December 1838, Krauss (?1841) (G); Paardepoort, George, 4 August 1956, Levyns 10580 (BOL). Eastern Cape. Uitenhage, Cockscomb, Gt. Winterhoek Mountains, rocky ridge, N side (3324BD), 2 February 1958, Esterhuysen 27551 (BOL, PRE).

Figures

FIGURE 26:—Known distribution of Stoebe microphylla in South Africa.