Drosanthemopsis vaginata Rauschert
Creators: name: Klak, C.
name: Hanáček, P.
name: Bruyns, P. V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Caryophyllales
Aizoaceae
Drosanthemopsis
Drosanthemopsis vaginata

description: 4. Drosanthemopsis vaginata (L.Bolus) Rauschert,
Taxon 31(3): 555 (1982). Drosanthemum vaginatum L.Bolus, Notes Mesembryanthemum 2: 138 (1929). Anisocalyx vaginatus (L.Bolus) L.Bolus, J. S. African Bot. 28: 303 (1962), nom. illeg. Jacobsenia vaginata (L.Bolus) Ihlenf., Mitt. Inst. Allg. Bot. Hamburg 27: 124 (1997).
Type: South Africa. Little Namaqualand, on the road between Vanrhynsdorp and Bitterfontein, without date, L. Bolus sub NBG1759/29 (BOL, holo.!). [Note: The locality of the type collection is thought to be an error, since this species has never been recorded so far to the south (Ihlenfeldt, 1997).]
Anisocalyx salarius L.Bolus, Notes Mesembryanthemum 3: 386 (1958), nom. illeg. Drosanthemopsis salaria (L.Bolus) Rauschert, Taxon 31(3): 555 (1982).
Type: South Africa. Northern Cape, Riethuis (3017AB), 29 Nov. 1957, H. Hall sub NBG634/57 (BOL, holo.!; NBG, iso.!).Compact shrubs to 8 cm high, main stem in old plants procumbent, young internodes indistinctly papillate becoming smooth with age, difference between long shoots and short shoots indistinct; each stem mostly developing 2 leaf-pairs per season.Leavesbasally fused into a sheath, sheath to 10 mm long, grey, usually ascending, upper surface flattened, lower surface towards the apex slightly keeled, 23–35 mm long, 8–11 mm diam.; epidermis with large, ± circular bladder cells with flat top, with many antler like protrusions, especially along the margins.Flowersemerging from the connate portion of the 1st or 2nd leaf-pair of the season, 35–40 mm diam., pedicels 7–10 mm long; sepals mostly 6, rarely up to 8, the two outer ones opposite, the
Appendix 1remaining spirally arranged; petals white; filaments white.Fruitshape of capsule seen from above ± circular to elliptic, 5–9 mm diam., locules 6–13.Seedsbrown to light brown, testa minutely papillate, c. 0.7 × 0.5 mm.
Ecology and distribution: The species is endemic to a relatively small area around Riethuis, Namaqualand, South Africa (Fig. 6). Here it is found in dense colonies on loamy strongly saline sand overlain with quartz pebbles.
Diagnostic characters: Drosanthemopsis vaginata can be distinguished from all other species in the tribe with a similar habit by its remarkable and unique bladder cells (Fig. 5B).A very similar epidermis is only found in D. kwaganapensis (Fig. 5A), from which it differs by its grey leaves and its low spreading habit (Table 1).
Conservation status: Drosanthemopsis vaginata is a rare species, known from only a few localities and is listed by Raimondo (2009) as vulnerable (VU).
Additional specimens examined:
South Africa. NORTHERN CAPE: 3017 (Hondeklipbaai): Riethuis near Komaggas (-AB), Ihlenfeldt & Herre sub SUG13199 (BOL); Riethuis (-AB), Wisura 882 (NBG); 4 km S of Wallekraal (-BC), Klak 902 (BOL); 8 km S of Wallekraal on road to Soutfontein (-BC), Klak 2311 (BOL).
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi. org/10.1016/j.sajb.2018.02.402.
description: Published as part of Klak, C., Hanáček, P. & Bruyns, P. V., 2018, A recircumscription of Jacobsenia (Aizoaceae): Re-instating Drosanthemopsis, with two new quartz-endemics from Namaqualand, South Africa and sinking Knersia *, pp. 67-81 in South African Journal of Botany 116 (10) on page 79, DOI: 10.1016/j.sajb.2018.02.402, http://zenodo.org/record/14036691