Austronea hispidoplicata Mart.

Martínez-Azorín, Mario, Crespo, Manuel B., Alonso-Vargas, María Ángeles, Dold, Anthony P., Pinter, Michael & Wetschnig, Wolfgang, 2018, Austronea (Asparagaceae, Scilloideae), a new genus from southern Africa, including the description of seven new species, Phytotaxa 365 (2), pp. 101-129 : 114-116

3. Austronea hispidoplicata Mart. -Azorín, M.B.Crespo, M.Pinter & M.A.Alonso sp. nov. ( Fig. 8 )

Ab Austronea barkerae affinis foliis lanceolatis vel ovato-lanceolatis conspicue pilosis, sed hac multo distincta folio solitario (nec 3– 9), pilis unaequalibus longis albicantibusque sinuosis vel curvatis vel raro ramosis munito, longitudinaliter plicato, octocostato, quamquam in parte centrali subplano; tepalis albicantibus usque ad basin liberis (nec cupulato-connatis).

Type:— SOUTH AFRICA. Northern Cape. Hondeklipbaai (3017): ca. 10 km NE of Kotzesrus on the way to Garies (- DB), elev. 160 m, sandy soil on quartzitic ridge, 20 August 2017 (in leaf), M. Martínez-Azorín, M. B. Crespo, M. A. Alonso & M. Pinter MMA1788 (holotype, GRA!; isotype, ABH76973 !) .

Herbaceous deciduous geophyte. Bulb hypogeal, solitary, ovoid to subglobose, 12–21 × 11–18 mm, extended into a hypogeal neck up to 1 cm long, with pale brown membranous outer tunics and white fleshy tightly packed inner tunics. Roots fleshy, white, branched, 15–25 × 1 mm. Leaf solitary, withered or almost withered at flowering time, aerial portion 12–35 × 4–11 mm, ovate-lanceolate, flat, appressed to the ground, slightly leathery and succulent, green, adaxial side longitudinally plicate on the sides forming 4 longitudinal grooves on each side and flat along the central longitudinal band, covered by long hispid white trichomes (up to 2.5 mm long) of different lengths that are usually curved or sinuous and rarely branched, abaxial side smooth, flat and almost glabrous, except the adjacent areas to the leaf margins showing trichomes facing downwards. Inflorescence nodding in bud, raceme 2–6 mm long, capitate or subcorymbose, with 3–10 flowers; peduncle 8–12 cm long, erect, slightly flexuose, covered by minute papillae along the whole length; pedicels 5–9 mm long at anthesis, smooth, glabrous, spreading; bracts ovate-lanceolate, ca. 1 mm long, clasping the pedicels, spurred, the lowermost with a spur up to 1.5 mm long, membranous, white with a central darker band. Flowers pentacyclic, trimerous, stellate, opening in the afternoon and withered in the evening, only 1–2 flowers open at a time, flower buds reddish-brown; tepals 6, entire, white on the adaxial side with a pale reddish-brown coloured longitudinal central band on the abaxial side, glandulous at the apex, biseriate, outer overlapping inners at the base, almost free from the base; outer tepals oblong, 4.3–4.5 × 1.6–1.7 mm; inner tepals oblong-lanceolate, 4.6–4.7 × 1.4–1.5 mm; both outer and inner with margins slightly revolute at anthesis. Stamens 6, spreading, shortly adnate to perigone for ca. 0.5 mm; filaments white, terete, filiform, 2.9–3.1 × 0.2 mm, recurved and slightly sigmoid, smooth; anthers yellow, oblong, ca. 1 mm long before dehiscence, dehiscing by longitudinal slits, with yellow pollen. Ovary pale brown-reddish, ovoid, somewhat truncate to the style, 1.8–1.9 × 0.9–1 mm; style white, columnar, 2.6–2.8 mm long, erect, trigonous in transversal section; stigma small and slightly papillate. Capsule ovoid-globose, loculicide, valves splitting to the base, with the withered perigone segments circumscissile below and forming an apical cap. Seeds unknown.

Etymology:—Named after the unique leaf morphology of this species combining long hispid trichomes and longitudinally plicate leaf sides.

Phenology:— Austronea hispidoplicata flowers around September in the wild at the type locality.

Habitat:—This species occurs on gentle slopes and small koppies with gravelly or stony ground with quartz in the Succulent Karoo biome. Vegetation is classified as SKn4 Namaqualand Heuweltjieveld, characterised by winter-rainfall climate with irregular rain events occurring mostly from May to August with almost no rain between November and February (MAP: 115 mm) and frequent dew in winter. Mean annual temperature is ca. 17ºC and frost hardly occurs ( Mucina & Rutherford 2006).

Distribution:— Austronea hispidoplicata is only known from the type locality in the surroundings of Kotzesrus in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa ( Fig. 6 ).

Diagnostic characters and taxonomic relationships:— Austronea hispidoplicata is unique in having a solitary, ovate-lanceolate, flat leaf which is appressed to the ground, longitudinally plicate on the sides forming 4 longitudinal grooves on each side and a flat central longitudinal band adaxially, covered by long, hispid, white trichomes of different lengths that are usually curved or sinuous and rarely branched; and flat and almost glabrous abaxially with scarce trichomes near leaf margins. Other related species with hairy leaves, such as A. barkerae , A. olifanta or A. trichophylla , are never plicate nor striate and show different leaf morphology ( Manning & Goldblatt 2003, Martínez-Azorín et al. 2016). Flowers of A. hispidoplicata are peculiar in the genus as tepals are almost free and stamens are spreading and somewhat sinuous, although our genetic studies confirm its inclusion in Austronea .

Figures

FIGURE 6. Distribution of Austronea species in southern Africa. A. densiflora Mart.-Azorín et al. (red circle), A. grandiflora Mart.- Azorín et al. (blue square), A. hispidoplicata Mart.-Azorín et al. (yellow triangle) and A. papillosa Mart.-Azorín et al. (green diamond).

FIGURE 8. Austronea hispidoplicata Mart.-Azorín et al. from NE of Kotzesrus (type locality), Northern Cape, South Africa, in leaf in the wild on 20August 2017 and in flower in cultivation inAlicante (Spain) on 13 October 2017 corresponding to MMA1788. A. Inflorescence; B. Flowers, frontal and lateral views; C. Dissected flower showing tepals, stamens and gynoecium; D. Withered leaf at flowering time; E. Bulbs with leaves, lateral views; F. Leaf, frontal and dorsal view. Scale bars: 5 mm.