Ursinia laciniata Magee & Mucina 2014, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Magee, Anthony R.
name: Boatwright, James S.
name: Mucina, Ladislav
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Asterales
Asteraceae
Ursinia
Ursinia laciniata

description: 4. Ursinia laciniata Magee & Mucina, sp. nov.
Type:— SOUTH AFRICA. Northern Cape, Springbok (2917): Steinkopf, Klipfonteinberg (–BA), 5 October 2014, Winter NGS283 (holotype NBG!, isotypes K!, PRE!).
Woody perennial shrublet, 0.30–0.40 m tall; densely branched, branches lanky, stalked glands absent. Leaves cauline, alternate, 6.0–10.0 × 3.0–7.0 mm, 3(5)-lobed, glandular-punctate, glabrescent, polished; stalked gland absent; lobes lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, 1.0–4.0 × ± 0.5– 1.0 mm, mucronate; mucro acute. Capitula radiate, heterogamous, ca. 15–20 mm in diam., solitary; peduncle 40–60 mm long at anthesis, glabrescent. Involucre hemispherical, 4.0–6.0 × 8.0–11.0 mm, glabrescent; involucre bracts 4- to 5-seriate, brownish along inner margins; outer bracts narrowly ovate, 1.5–2.0 mm long, margins scarious; middle bracts narrowly oblong, 4.0– 4.5 mm long, margins scarious; inner bracts narrowly oblong, 5.0–6.0 mm long, apical appendages ovate, obtuse. Receptacle paleate. Paleae scarious, truncate, closely laciniate. Ray florets neuter, 10–14; lamina 4–6 mm long, yellow. Disc florets bisexual, numerous, yellow, 5-lobed; lobes cucullate, with sessile glandular trichomes. Anthers slightly sagittate at base; apical appendages cordate. Style terete; branches linear, truncate, sweeping hairs apically-dorsally. Pappus uniseriate, scales 5. Cypselas unknown.
Distribution and ecology: —This species is known so far from only a few localities in between the Richtersveld and the Kamiesberg (Fig. 3). Near Steinkopf it grows among large granite (Precambrian gneiss) supporting dense succulent karoo scrub, belonging to the SKr15 Anenous Plateau Shrubland (Mucina et al. 2006).
Diagnostic characters: — Ursinia laciniata may be confused with the similar but allopatric U. punctata which is also a woody perennial with dissected leaves and truncate paleae. However, U. laciniata is easily distinguished from the latter by the polished, mostly trifid leaves with acute mucros, the glabrescent leaves and involucral bracts, the narrowly oblong middle involucral bracts with only the innermost bracts apically appendaged (Fig. 2F) and the paleae with prominently laciniate apical margins (Fig. 2F). In U. pungens the mature leaves are mostly 5–10 lobed with prominently long acuminate mucros, the leaves and involucral bracts are sparsely pilose, the middle involucral bracts are ovate to narrowly ovate with at least the inner two-most involucral bracts apically appendaged and the apical margins of the paleae are repand to slightly erose. Ursinia laciniata may be confused with the closely allied U. glandulosa with which it shares the acute leaf mucros and narrowly ovate middle involucral bracts but can be distinguished most prominently by the absence of stalked glands, the glabrescent leaves and involucre, and the laciniate paleae.
Additional specimens examined: — SOUTH AFRICA. Northern Cape Province: 2817 (Vioolsdrif): Richtersveld, Kalkfontein (–CC), 23 August 1925, Marloth 12655 (PRE). Precise locality unknown: Kamiesbergen, 10 September 1925, Marloth 12685 (PRE).
description: Published as part of Magee, Anthony R., Boatwright, James S. & Mucina, Ladislav, 2014, Four new species of Ursinia (Asteraceae, Anthemideae) from South Africa, with an updated key to the genus in Namaqualand, pp. 137-145 in Phytotaxa 177 (3) on page 144, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.177.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5144648