Euryops dasyphyllus J. H. J. Vlok, Sp. nov
Creators: name: Vlok, J. H. J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Asterales
Asteraceae
Euryops
Euryops dasyphyllus

description: 3.1. Euryops dasyphyllus J.H.J.Vlok, Sp. nov
ePagEuryops dasyphyllus B.Nord. & Vlok ms.(Manning and Goldblatt, 2012)
Type: South Africa, Western Cape Province, Ladismith (3320): Anysberg Nature Reserve, about 10 km west of Touwsfontein house, (-CB), 650 m, 19 May 1989, J.H.J.Vlok 2121 (NBG, holo.; S, PRE, iso.).
Single-stemmed, divaricately branched shrub up to 60 cm tall; young branches densely leafy, leaves persisting a maximum of two years on a branch. Leaves erect with tips spreading, 6—16 X 1 mm, simple, terete with deep, narrow groove adaxially, acuminate with a small, reddish-brown mucro, lanate-pubescent with white, dendritic trichomes. Peduncles terminal, solitary, 90—260 mm long, ca. 1 mm thick, reddish-brown. Involucre widely cup-shaped, 8—10 mm diam. Involucral bracts uniseriate, 11 or 12 glabrous, limbs connate for ca. half their length, lanceolate, 6—7 X 2—3 mm, 3-veined, membranous along upper margin, minutely ciliate-puberulous towards acuminate tip. Ray fl orets 8 to 10; corolla yellow, tube cylindrical, 2 mm long; lamina oblong, 10—12 mm long, 5-veined; style branches recurved, ca. 1 mm long. Disc fl orets 40 to 50; corolla yellow, 5—6 mm long; tube cylindrical, 2—3 mm long; limb campanulate, 3—4 mm long, with triangular-acute lobes. Anthers 2 mm long with lanceolate appendage. Style terete with base swollen, style branches recurved, ca. 1 mm long. Pappus 0. Cypselas obovate, ca. 1.0 X 0.75 mm, tuberculate, surface densely covered with minute white papillae; ridges not prominent. (Fig. 1; Plate 1).
Flowering period: May. Plants respond rapidly to rain and flower within three weeks after rain. Flowering may thus depend on rainfall events, rather than the season.
Distribution and ecology: Euryops dasyphyllus is known only from the Ladismith district where it occurs in Succulent Karoo vegetation, more specifically in the Western Little Karoo vegetation unit sensu Mucina and Rutherford (2006). At a finer scale Vlok and Schutte-Vlok (2015) described this vegetation as Scholtzbosveld, a vegetation unit in which Pteronia pallens L.f. is the dominant species. E. dasyphyllus occurs on a small plateau in dry, clayey soil with some calcrete and quartz pebbles on the surface. It is locally abundant, but populations are localised.
Diagnosis: Euryops dasyphyllus belongs to sect. Psilosteum as the ray and disc florets lack pappus bristles. It is unique in this section in having simple, entire and lanate-pubescent leaves. Its affinities within the group are not clear but it is most similar to E. anthemoides B.Nord. and E. tenuilobus (DC.) B.Nord., but these two species differ in having lobed leaves and they do not occur in the Klein Karoo.
Conservation notes: Despite several searches this species was only observed in a similar habitat about 3 km south-east of the type locality (Fig. 3). Part of the type locality was severely disturbed when the area was previously ploughed to establish Old-man Saltbush (Atriplex nummularia). Following Raimondo et al. (2009), I propose a conservation status of Endangered (B2 (a) & (b)) for this species.
Etymology: The specific name alludes to the woolly hair on the leaves.
3.1.1. Changes to species key
This species can be accommodated in the existing key to sect. Psiloteum (Nordenstam, 1968: 325) by changing couplet 20 to the following:
(i) Leaves densely hairy... E. dasyphyllus
(ii) Leaves glabrous... continue with existing key.
description: Published as part of Vlok, J. H. J., 2020, Three new species and one new subspecies of Euryops (Asteraceae: Senecioneae) from the Klein Karoo in the Western Cape Province, South Africa., pp. 167-173 in South African Journal of Botany 133 on pages 167-169, DOI: 10.1016/j.sajb.2020.07.025, http://zenodo.org/record/10496796