Nolletia Cassini (1825: 479)

Herman, Paul P. J., 2013, Cypsela morphology in the genus Nolletia (Asteraceae, Astereae) and a revision of the genus, Phytotaxa 122 (1), pp. 1-44 : 5-8

Nolletia Cassini (1825: 479) ; Bentham (1873: 285, 286); Hoffmann (1889: 169); Phillips (1951: 785);

Merxmüller (1967: 118, 119); Dyer (1975: 671); Wild (1975: 18); Tutin (1976: 120); Hilliard (1977: 96, 97);

Ozenda (1977: 423); Bremer (1994: 427); Herman et al. (2000: 151); Nesom & Robinson (2007: 293). Type

species:— Nolletia chrysocomoides (Desfontaines 1799: 269, t. 232) Cassini ex Lessing (1832: 187).

Basionym:— Conyza chrysocomoides Desf.

= Leptothamnus de Candolle (1836: 367) ; Harvey (1865: 111). Type species:— Leptothamnus ciliaris de Candolle (1836: 367) ; Harvey (1865: 111)

Perennial herbs, suffrutices, dwarf or small shrubs, densely to sparsely leafy. Stems much-branched from base or simple below, branching upwards into corymbose synflorescences. Leaves alternate, sessile, filiform, linear, narrowly elliptic or narrowly obovate; margin entire; glabrous to appressed or spreading pubescent, sometimes glandular-hairy, often ciliate, sometimes with embedded oil glands on lower leaf surfaces. Capitula heterogamous, disciform; solitary or loosely arranged in terminal corymbs. Involucre campanulate. Involucral bracts imbricate, in 3 or 4 rows; glabrous, spreading or appressed pubescent, sometimes with oil sacs or minutely white-punctate, sometimes purplish at apex; margins often fimbriate; persistent and recurved in old inflorescences. Receptacle epaleate, foveolate. Outer female florets in 1 row, fertile, filiform or with short ray ( Fig. 3G, H , Table 1); with glandular hairs; yellow but sometimes purplish at apex. Style usually exserted, bifurcate; style branches linear or narrowly elliptic, acute to obtuse; stigmatic areas marginal, confluent at apex, occasionally with reduced deltoid-penicillate apical appendages; often purplish. Cypsela and pappus as in disc florets. Disc florets numerous, regular, bisexual, fertile; corolla tubular below, widening slightly upwards but sides still parallel to each other, widening again into 5-lobed limb; with glandular hairs at first widening and on outside of lobes; yellow, but sometimes lobes and upper part of tube purplish. Anthers with narrowly ovate, apical appendages; base slightly calcarate, ecaudate; filament collar with thickened cell walls. Style exserted, bifurcate; style branches linear with deltoid-penicillate apical appendages or obtuse and papillate; stigmatic areas marginal, not confluent at apex. Cypsela narrowly obovoid, surface covered either with oblong epicarpic cells arranged in parallel rows, or with circular epicarpic cells; with twin hairs of various lengths; or in 1 species with scattered, circular epicarpic cells arranged in pairs, each pair with 1 twin hair between them ( Figs. 1–3F , Table 1). Pappus of numerous, caducous, barbellate bristles.

Note on type species:—The combination Nolletia chrysocomoides was previously ascribed to Cassini, but according to Flann et al. (2010), Cassini never published this combination, Lessing did, in 1832.

Geographic range: Europe: Spain. North Africa: Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya. Southern tropical and southern Africa: Angola, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Cypselae of Nolletia species as seen under the stereomicroscope: (A) N. gariepina (Warren 78, PRE); (B) N. tenuifolia (Giess 10863, PRE); (C) N. ciliaris (Jacot Guillarmod 377, PRE); (D) N. jeanettae (Bester 8534, PRE); (E) N. welmaniae (Winter 7649, PRE); (F) N. rarifolia (Van Hoepen 1825, PRE); (G) N. ruderalis (Compton 27385, PRE); (H) N. vanhoepeniae (Koekemoer 3899, PRE); (I) N. zambesica (Maguire 1693, PRE); (J) N. chrysocomoides (Merxmüller & Giess 3579, PRE); (K) N. annetjieae (Van Rooyen 3714, PRE). Photographs by P.P.J. Herman.

FIGURE 2. Scanning electron micrographs of cypsela features in Nolletia: (A) obovoid cypsela of N. gariepina (Dinter 3577, PRE); (B) oblong epicarpic cells arranged in regular rows and twin hairs on the cypsela of N. tenuifolia (Dinter 7889, PRE); (C) oblong epicarpic cells arranged in regular rows and twin hairs with acute apices on the cypsela of N. gariepina (Zietsman & Zietsman 794, PRE); (D) oblong epicarpic cells arranged in regular rows and twin hairs with broadened apices in cypsela of N. annemarieae (Moss & Jacobsen K180, PRE); (E) obovoid cypsela in the dried state of N. chrysocomoides showing the ‘pocked’ surface (Germishuizen 7763, PRE); (F) circular epicarpic cells each with a twin hair on the cypsela of N. vanhoepeniae in the dried state (De Beer B5, PRE); (G) circular epicarpic cells each with a twin hair, in N. vanhoepeniae in the rehydrated state (De Beer B5, PRE); (H) paired circular to elliptic epicarpic cells with one twin hair between each pair, scattered over the cypsela surface in N. annetjieae in the dried state (Leistner 1581, PRE). Photographs by P.P.J. Herman.

FIGURE 3. Light micrographs of cypsela surfaces of: (A) N. jeanettae illustrating the oblong epicarpic cells arranged in parallel rows after rehydration (Bester 8494, PRE); and (B) N. ruderalis (Vander Schijff 2041, PRE), higher magnification; (C) N. chrysocomoides showing the circular epicarpic cells after rehydration (Wiss 2553, PRE); (D) N. zambesica (Merxmüller 1966, PRE) showing the twin hairs arising from the apical part of the circular epicarpic cells after rehydration; (E) N. annetjieae after rehydration showing the paired circular to elliptic epicarpic cells scattered over the surface, each pair with one twin hair between them (Koekemoer 3901, PRE); (F) N. annetjieae showing the twin hairs arising from two (paired) circular epicarpic cells (Van Rooyen 3714, PRE). Scanning electron micrographs illustrating the different outer female florets of Nolletia species: (G) filiform female floret in N. ciliaris (Koekemoer 1062, PRE); (H) short ray in the outer female floret of N. gariepina (Jensen 208, PRE). Photographs by P.P.J. Herman.