| Berkheyopsis | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Subfamily: | Vernonioideae |
| Tribe: | Arctotideae |
| Subtribe: | Gorteriinae |
| Genus: | Berkheyopsis O.Hoffm. (1892) |
| Species: | B. echinus |
| Binomial name | |
| Berkheyopsis echinus (Less.) O.Hoffm. (1895) | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
| |
Berkheyopsis echinus is a species of flowering plant in the sunflower family, Asteraceae. It is the sole species in genus Berkheyopsis. It is a perennial herb native to southern Africa, where it grows in Botswana, Namibia, and the Cape Provinces and Free State of South Africa. [1]
It is a bushy perennial herb growing up to 40 cm tall, with multiple prickly stems growing from a long taproot. It grows in deserts and dry shrublands. [1]
The species was first described as Hirpicium echinus by Christian Friedrich Lessing in 1832. Karl August Otto Hoffmann renamed the species Berkheyopsis echinus in 1895. [1] Many authorities continued to treat Berkheyopsis as a synonym of Hirpicium . In 2018 Stångberg, Karis, and Anderberg concluded that Hirpicium was paraphyletic, and that the species formed a distinct clade, and revived Berkheyopsis as a monotypic genus. [2]