Elytropappus Cassini (1816: 199)

Koekemoer, Marinda, 2019, Taxonomy and reclassification of South African Asteraceae genus Elytropappus (Gnaphalieae, Asteraceae), the description of two new genera and two new species, Phytotaxa 403 (4), pp. 248-284 : 264

Elytropappus Cassini (1816: 199)

Type species:— Elytropappus hispidus (L.f.) Druce.

Cyathopappus Schultz Bipontinus (1861: 183) . Type species:— Cyathopappus metalasioides Schultz Bipontinus (1861: 183) .

Woody shrubs or subshrubs, up to 0.8 m tall, branches and leaves glandular, aromatic. Leaves usually small and ericoid, adaxial surface woolly; abaxial surface arachnoid, glandular, glands stalked, margins involute, entire. Synflorescences terminal, globose or sub-globose. Capitula homogamous, discoid, 2- to 6-flowered. Receptacle naked. Involucral bracts imbricate in few rows, the inner scarious, the outer sometimes woolly hairy, often foliaceous. Disc florets bisexual, lobes spreading. Anthers syngenesious, 5, apically acuminate, basally tailed. Style bifid, branches pencilled at the summit. Nectaries absent. Cypselas small, terete or sub-terete, often with a well-developed annulus, surface glabrous, with longitudinal or transverse ribs. Pappus setae 12–21, plumose in upper part; basally usually fused in a ring. Flowering mainly from February to April, or September to December.

Diagnostic features: —Leaves with glandular trichomes; capitula 2- to 6-flowered; florets white or cream with spreading lobes.

Distribution and habitat: — Western Cape. Fynbos and Mountain Fynbos areas, often in sand and on rocky soils.