Zingela pooleyorum N.R.Crouch, Mart.

Crouch, Neil R., Martínez-Azorín, Mario, Crespo, Manuel B., Pinter, Michael & Alonso-Vargas, María Á., 2018, Zingela (Asparagaceae, Scilloideae), a distinct new urgineoid genus from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Phytotaxa 371 (1), pp. 33-41 : 36-39

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/phytotaxa.371.1.4
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/885987A6-FFD1-000D-AA8B-3275DD4A5168
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Zingela pooleyorum N.R.Crouch, Mart.
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Zingela pooleyorum N.R.Crouch, Mart. View in CoL -Azorín, M.B.Crespo, M.Pinter & M.A.Alonso sp. nov. ( Figs. 1A ‒ B View FIGURE 1 , 2 View FIGURE 2 , 3 View FIGURE 3 ).

= Urginea indica (Roxb.) Kunth var. multiflora Oberm. nom. nud. (Art. 38 Ex. 1)

= Urginea zebrina Oberm. var. multiflora Oberm. nom. nud. in scheda

The new species shows a unique syndrome of characters, comprising loose-scaled bulbs; glaucous, hysteranthous, keeled leaves, bearing purple maculations at the base; long multiflowered racemose inflorescence with persistent bracts and distinct bracteoles; subpatent to nodding, faintly scented diurnal flowers, with almost free, white, reflexed tepals; spreading stamens with filiform filaments and circinnate anthers post pollen release; ovary ovoid to subconical, style filiform, erect to slightly sinuous; and wide, shortly oblong capsules, differing from any other known Urgineoideae .

Type:— SOUTH AFRICA. KwaZulu-Natal, Bela Vista (2632CD): On Pongola floodplain edge, Ndumo [Ndumu] Hill, Ndumo [Ndumu] Game Reserve, 15 October 1969, E.S. Pooley 661 (holotype, NU!).

Herbaceous, perennial, bulbous plant. Bulb hypogeal, 5 ‒ 8 × 6 ‒ 9 cm, composed of 10 ‒ 25 thickened, fleshy, white, elongated loose scales, with copious threads when torn, ca. 6 × 1 cm; roots pale brown, thickened, contractile, 2 ‒ 5 mm in diameter. Leaves 1 ‒ 2, mostly hysteranthous, glaucous green, long narrowly oblong with pointed apex, 10 ‒ 35 × 0.5 ‒ 1 cm, with 2 grooves adaxially, strongly keeled abaxially in a V shape, with the keel more prominent along the central part, commonly twisting from the base, sometimes distally, convolute at base with distinct purple maculations abaxially. Inflorescence long racemose, the peduncle 30 ‒ 60 cm long, greenish-brown, mottled covered a white bloom, the raceme long and lax, 15 ‒ 30 cm long, with 25 ‒ 55 flowers, subpatent to nodding; pedicels of flowers 10 ‒ 12 mm long, patent and arching down, purple-brown, with whitish bloom, elongating up to 2 cm long and arching up in fruit. Bracts lanceolate, acute, 2 ‒ 4 mm long, cream with a brown central band, the lowermost with a long basal spur up to 6 ‒ 8 mm long which is flattened and appressed to the stem, those from the middle and upper parts of the inflorescence showing very short or inconspicuous spurs, persistent at anthesis; bracteoles present and distinct, white. Flowers pentacyclic, trimerous, stellate, subpatent to nodding, opening in the afternoon and closing about sunset. Tepals 6, biseriate, almost free from the base, reflexed, outer tepals lanceolate, 10 ‒ 11 × 2.5 ‒ 2.8 mm, with obtuse apex, inner tepals oblong-lanceolate, 9 ‒ 10 × 2.8 ‒ 3 mm, with acute apex; tepals white with a broad purplish-brown median stripe, being more evident abaxially. Stamens 6, spreading; filaments free, filiform, ca. 6 × 0.3 mm, only slightly flattened and triangular at the very base in connection to the ovary; anthers narrowly oblong, pale yellow, ca. 4 × 0.8 mm before dehiscence, ca. 3 mm long and distinctly circinnate after pollen release, dehiscing longitudinally along the whole length, not connivent to the style. Ovary ovoid to subconical, yellowish, shallowly 3-angled, 3.8 ‒ 4 mm long, 2.1 mm wide at the base and tapering to the style. Style filiform, white, erect to slightly sinuous, 5 ‒ 5.7 × 0.4 ‒ 0.5 mm, curved outwards in the distal part. Stigma small and indistinctly trigonous. Capsule pale brown, triloculate, loculicide, shortly oblong, ca. 16 × 13 mm, valves splitting to the base. Seeds flattened, subelliptic, with prominent central embryo and broad wings, 10 ‒ 11 × 5 ‒ 7 mm, black, with puzzle-like cells delimited by narrow raised ridges ( Figs. 1A ‒ B View FIGURE 1 , 2 View FIGURE 2 , 3 View FIGURE 3 ).

Variation:—Plants from the Maputaland subpopulation present substantially broader median tepal stripes both above and below. In Ndumo GR, plants of Z. pooleyorum are generally larger, more erect, with longer leaves and inflorescences, and with anthers less strongly circinnate.

Biology:—Flowering occurs in late spring and early summer, October through November in southern Africa, with the inflorescences fully developed even prior to the first seasonal rains. Both individuals in flower lacking leaves and in vegetative stage were simultaneously observed in the northernmost populations. The developing scapes are capable of penetrating remarkably compact dry soil, emerging from bulbs positioned up to 20 cm below the surface. The flowers open from 13h30 until 18h00, and are only faintly scented. Pollinators are not yet confirmed although Apis mellifera has been observed as a flower visitor.

Habitat:—At Ndumo Game Reserve plants grow in the partial shade of thicket at an elevation of approximately 50 m, on both clay and sandy soils in both Western Maputaland Sandy Bushveld (SVl 19) and Western Maputaland Clay Bushveld (SVl 20) within the Savanna Biome ( Rutherford et al. 2006). The Zingela subpopulation on the central Thukela River to the south occupies more stony terrain at elevations of 700–840 m, also within the Savanna Biome ( Rutherford et al. 2006), but in Thukela Valley Bushveld (SVs 1). Pooley (1978) records that both leaves and flowering heads are eaten by duiker (antelope belonging to several genera of the family Bovidae , subfamily Cephalopinae ).

Distribution:—Known so far only from two macrolocalities, some 300 km distant, both within the KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa ( Fig. 4 View FIGURE 4 ). The likelihood of Z. pooleyorum occurring in southern Mozambique is very high given that the northern boundary of Ndumo GR forms part of the international border between these two countries. In correspondence (Ref 12/1/1/1, PRE) between A. Mauve and E. Pooley dated 3 April 1981, Mauve indicated that bulbs of Zingela had been found along the Sabie River near Skukuza in Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga. This locality requires confirmation.

Taxonomic relationships:—The alliance of Zingela is undoubtedly with Thuranthos which also has bulbs composed of loose, cucullate, pedicellate scales, and leaves which are prominently keeled. It is possible that Thuranthos macranthus Wright (1916: 223) is sympatric in the south of its range, although this has not been documented yet. The relationship to taxa in the Drimia indica complex (as Urginea indica ) has been noted by A.A. Obermeyer in correspondence, when she considered attributing plants from Ndumo represented by Pooley 661 (NU) to the taxon “ Urginea zebrina Oberm. var. multiflora Oberm. ”, through a name she annotated on that particular specimen. Her concept for ‘ U. zebrina’ was never validly published, although the varietal epithet (as Urginea indica (Roxb.) Kunth var. multiflora Oberm. ) was used in the checklist for the Ndumo Game Reserve ( Pooley 1978), this being a nomen nudum (Art. 38 Ex. 1). Plants corresponding to the type of Drimia indica are not with certainty known from the African continent. Rather, our preliminary molecular findings reveal that the southern African material attributed to D. indica must be placed in Vera-duthiea .

Eponymy:—The name “pooleyorum ” commemorates the award-winning conservationists Elsa Pooley (1947–) and Tony Pooley (1938–2004), whose manifold interest in the biota of Ndumo Game Reserve is reflected in Elsa’s discovery of this species.

Additional material studied (paratypes):— SOUTH AFRICA. KwaZulu-Natal: Dundee (2830): ca. 24 km east of Colenso , on way to Zingela , ca. 2 km from main house (-CA), elev. 749 m, 11 October 2015 (in flower), M. Martínez-Azorín, M. Pinter, M.B. Crespo, N. Crouch & M.A. Alonso MMA1382 (ABH74185!, GRA) ; Dundee (2830): ca. 24 km east of Colenso , on way to Zingela , ca. 4 km from main house (-CA), elev. 771 m, 12 October 2015 (in flower), M. Martínez-Azorín, M. Pinter, M.B. Crespo, N. Crouch & M.A. Alonso MMA1387 (ABH74190!, GRA) ; Immediately S of Ndumo Game Reserve, 0.8 Km west of main gate to reserve (-CD), elev. 58 m, 16 November 2016, N. Crouch 1291 (ABH78366!) .