Inulanthera coronopifolia
Creators: name: Magoswana, S. L.
name: Boatwright, J. S.
name: Manning, J. C.
name: Magee, A. R.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Asterales
Asteraceae
Inulanthera
Inulanthera coronopifolia

description: 2. Inulanthera coronopifolia (Harv.) KällersjÖ in Nord. J. Bot. 5 (6): 539 (1986).
Athanasia coronopifolia Harv. in Fl. cap. 3: 191 (1865); Hilliard, Compositae in Natal: 338 (1977).
Type: South Africa, [KwaZulu-Natal], between [Pieter] Maritzburg and Ladysmith, [without date], Gerrard and M ' Ken 279 (TCD, holo – image!; S – image!, iso.).
Multi-stemmed shrub 0.45–1.0 m, resprouting from a woody caudex, stems simple to sparsely branched in upper half, branches 2–3 mm diam., villous to glabrescent. Leaves sub-erect to recurved, elliptic, 2–8 × 1–2 mm, pinnatisect, lobes 4 to 6, linear to lanceolate, 1–2 mm long, base cuneate, margins revolute, villous or sometimes glabrescent, coriaceous; axillary shoots developed in lower leaves. Capitula in sparse compound corymbs 35–65 mm across, branches 8–20 mm long; inflorescence bracts lanceolate, 2–5 × 1–2 mm. Involucre campanulate to subglobose, 3–6 × 4–9 mm, cobwebby to glabrescent; outer bracts lanceolate, 2–3 × 1–2 mm, acuminate, margins serrulate. Receptacle paleate. Florets 65 to 70. Pappus formed by cypsela ribs extended apically into horns 0.3–0.5 mm long. Cypselas obovoid, 1–2 × 0.5–1.0, prominently 8- to 10-ribbed, glabrous. Fig. 4.
Diagnostic characters
Inulanthera coronopifolia shares glabrous involucral bracts with the simple-leaved species I. leucoclada and I. montana but is readily distinguished by its slender stems (Fig. 4A) with axillary shoots in the nodes of the lower leaves, small (<10 mm long) pinnatisect leaves, and relatively few heads (<30) in a simple or compound corymb vs. the larger corymbs, usually more than 30 mm in diameter in both I. leucoclada and I. montana, and compound corymbs with numerous heads, more than 30 in I. montana and up to 70 in I. leucoclada.
Distribution, ecology and phenology
This species occurs along the foothills of the Drakensberg from Nottingham Road and Giant's Caste in southern KwaZulu-Natal to Ugie in Eastern Cape, on rocky slopes in grassland above 1700 m (Fig. 5). Flowering is from March to April.
Additional specimens examined
South Africa. KWA‐ ZULU NATAL: 2929 (Underberg): Giant's Castle Game Reserve (Headquarters) (− AB), Trauseld 745 (NU); Ntabamhlophe (− BA), Hilliard 1471 (NU); Mulungane above Carter's Nek, Farm ‘Surprise’ (− BC), Hilliard 8231 (NU); Gladstone's Nose (− BC), Wright s.n. (NU); Coleford Nature Reserve, Sunnyside (− CD), Hilliard and Burtt 9548 (NU); Glengariff, Prosperity, Marwaga (− DC), Rennie 380 (NU); Nduduma, ‘Glengariff’ (− DC), Rennie s.n. (NU). 2930 (Pietermaritzburg): top of hill near Curry's Post (− AC), Wood 4457 (NH); Lion's River District, Fort Nottingham commonage (− AC), Hilliard and Burtt 10338 (MO, NU); Nottingham road (− AC), Maclear 810 (MO, NH). EASTERN CAPE: 3127 (Lady Frere): Barkly East, Saalboom Nek, S of Clifford (− AB), Hilliard and Burtt 12267 (NU). 3128 (Umtata): Maclear, Farm Cromarty, ± 18 km west of Ugie (− AA), Bester 2711 (NU); Baziya Mountain (− CB), Hilliard and Burtt 13,893 (NU).
description: Published as part of Magoswana, S. L., Boatwright, J. S., Manning, J. C. & Magee, A. R., 2016, A taxonomic revision of Inulanthera (Asteraceae: Anthemideae) *, pp. 141-157 in South African Journal of Botany 105 on page 146, DOI: 10.1016/j.sajb.2016.02.203, http://zenodo.org/record/10496274