Heterolepis

Last updated

Heterolepis
Heterolepis aliena Rock daisy IMG 2030s.jpg
Heterolepis aliena in native habitat fynbos
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
(unranked):
(unranked):
(unranked):
Order:
Family:
Tribe:
Genus:
Heterolepis

Cass. 1820 not Ehrenb. ex Boiss. 1884 (Poaceae) [2]
Type species
Heterolepis aliena [1] [3]
Species
Heterolepis aliena, flowerhead attended by pollinating beetles Heterolepis aliena Rock daisy IMG 2033s.jpg
Heterolepis aliena, flowerhead attended by pollinating beetles
Heterolepis aliena, lateral aspect of flowerhead, showing protruding stamens and pistils Heterolepis aliena Rock daisy IMG 2034s.jpg
Heterolepis aliena, lateral aspect of flowerhead, showing protruding stamens and pistils

Heterolepis is a genus of flowering plants in the sunflower family. [4] It has three [5] or four [6] species, all endemic to the Western Cape Province in South Africa.

Heterolepis species are shrublets, typically sprawling and about 30 cm high with moderately large yellow flowers. The flowerheads are solitary with glandular peduncles, the surrounding green bracts having membranous margins, especially in the inner rows. The ray florets are female, with a thread-like lobe opposite the ray. The disk florets are bisexual. The seeds (properly speaking the fruits) are flask-shaped, silky, with a pappus of two unequal rows of bristly, barbed scales. The leaves are alternate, typically 1530 mm long, narrow or needle-like, sharply pointed, thick, and quite stiff, with the margins rolled under, woolly beneath. The rootstock is woody, and branches cobwebby. The plants occur mainly on rocky sandstone slopes in the mountains of the Western Cape in South Africa. [6]

The name Heterolepis is derived from two Greek words, heteros "different, dissimilar" and lepis "a scale". [7] This name was created in 1820 by Alexandre de Cassini [8] [9] for a plant that had been named Arnica inuloides [10] by Martin Vahl in 1791. [11] One year after transferring this species to Heterolepis, Cassini changed the specific epithet, thus creating the superfluous combination Heterolepis decipiens in 1821. [12]

The relationships of Heterolepis to other genera in Asteraceae are not well understood. It is related to the tribe Arctotideae. Some authors have placed it within that tribe as a matter of convenience until more can be learned about it. [13]

Related Research Articles

<i>Stachys</i> Genus of plants in the sage family

Stachys is a genus of plants, one of the largest in the mint family Lamiaceae. Estimates of the number of species vary from about 300, to about 450. Stachys is in the subfamily Lamioideae and its type species is Stachys sylvatica. The precise extent of the genus and its relationship to other genera in the subfamily are poorly known.

<i>Gastonia</i> (plant) Genus of flowering plants

GastoniaCommerson ex Lamarck is a formerly accepted genus of plants in the ivy and ginseng family, Araliaceae. It had been known as an unnatural group, but was recognized as late as 2010, when its nine species were distributed to four different subgenera of the large genus Polyscias. Because the genus Gastonia is now obsolete, its species are herein referred to by their names in Polyscias.

<i>Volkameria</i> Genus of flowering plants

Volkameria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae. It is pantropical in distribution. Many of the species are found in coastal habitats.

<i>Vitex</i> Genus of flowering plants in the sage family Lamiaceae

Vitex is a genus of flowering plants in the sage family Lamiaceae. It has about 250 species. Common names include chaste tree or chastetree, traditionally referring to V. agnus-castus, but often applied to other species, as well.

Arthrophyllum is a defunct genus of plants in the family Araliaceae. It was recognized by most authors until 2010, when all of its 30 species were "sunk" into Polyscias subgenus Arthrophyllum.

Cuphocarpus is an obsolete genus of flowering plants in the family Araliaceae. Mabberley (2008) treated it as a synonym of Polyscias, but other authors still recognized it at that time. In 2010, in a phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences, it was shown that Cuphocarpus was biphyletic and embedded in the large genus Polyscias. In an accompanying paper, Polyscias was divided into 11 subgenera, with seven species left incertae sedis.

<i>Raukaua</i> Genus of flowering plants

Raukaua is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araliaceae. It has an austral distribution, being indigenous to southern Argentina and Chile, as well as New Zealand and the island of Tasmania.

Reynoldsia is a formerly recognised genus of plants in the ivy family, Araliaceae. In 2003, Kew Gardens published a checklist for Araliaceae, in which eight species were recognized for Reynoldsia: four from Samoa, two from Tahiti, one from the Marquesas, and one from Hawaii. In 2010, a phylogenetic comparison of DNA data showed that Reynoldsia was polyphyletic, consisting of two groups that are not each other's closest relatives. In a companion paper, three of the species were "sunk" into synonymy with others, reducing the number of species to five. All species that were formerly in Reynoldsia are now in Polyscias subgenus Tetraplasandra, a subgenus of 21 species indigenous to Malesia and the Pacific islands.

<i>Oldenlandia</i> Genus of plants

Oldenlandia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is pantropical in distribution and has about 240 species. The type species for the genus is Oldenlandia corymbosa.

<i>Distephanus</i> Genus of flowering plants

Distephanus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It is described by American botanist Harold E. Robinson as having over 40 species and by David Mabberley as having only 34 species. These sources differ sharply in their description of the range of the genus. Robinson has it ranging throughout Africa and occurring also in India and China. Mabberley has it restricted to southeast Africa, Madagascar, and Mauritius.

<i>Kohautia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Kohautia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. They are native to tropical areas of Asia, Africa, and Madagascar. Thirty-one species are known. The type species for the genus is Kohautia senegalensis.

Machaonia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It has about 32 species. All are indigenous to the neotropics. None has a unique common name. Some species have been called "alfilerillo", a Spanish name for the common and well-known genus Erodium. The type species for Machaonia is Machaonia acuminata.

<i>Rondeletia</i> (plant) Genus of flowering plants

Rondeletia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is endemic to the Neotropics. There are around 160 species.

Hoplophyllum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It has two species, Hoplophyllum spinosum and Hoplophyllum ferox, both native to South Africa.

Platycarpha is a genus of South African plants within the family Asteraceae.

<i>Chiococca</i> Genus of flowering plants

Chiococca is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It currently holds 23 species that are native to Florida, Texas, Mexico, Central America, much of South America, the West Indies, and the islands of Galápagos and Fernando de Noronha.

<i>Hymenodictyon</i> Genus of flowering plants

Hymenodictyon is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It has about 30 species. All are native to the Old World. The wood of Hymenodictyon orixense is soft and has limited use, mostly for boxes. The type species for Hymenodictyon is Hymenodictyon orixense.

<i>Grubbia</i> Genus of plants

Grubbia is a genus of flowering plants. It is the sole genus in the family Grubbiaceae. The genus has three species, all endemic to the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa. They are shrubs that grow to 1.5 m (4.9 ft) tall, with tiny flowers and slender, leathery leaves. The fruit is a syncarp.

Ekmanianthe is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae. It is most closely related to Tabebuia and has sometimes been included within it. It consists of two species of trees, neither of which is especially common in any part of its range:

<i>Pseudomertensia</i> Genus of flowering plants in the borage family Boraginaceae

Pseudomertensia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae. They are perennial herbs with blue or bluish purple flowers. Their natural range is from Iran to the Himalayas. None have been found in China or Russia. P. echioides, and the type species for the genus, P. elongata, are occasionally cultivated as ornamentals.

References

  1. 1 2 Flann, C (ed) 2009+ Global Compositae Checklist
  2. Tropicos search for Heterolepis
  3. Heterolepis In: Index Nominum Genericorum. In: Regnum Vegetabile (see External links below).
  4. Per Ola Karis. 2007. "Arctotideae" pages 200-207. In: Klaus Kubitzki (series editor); Joachim W. Kadereit and Charles Jeffrey (volume editors). The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants volume VIII. Springer-Verlag: Berlin; Heidelberg, Germany. ISBN   978-3-540-31050-1
  5. David J. Mabberley. 2008. Mabberley's Plant-Book third edition (2008). Cambridge University Press: UK. ISBN   978-0-521-82071-4
  6. 1 2 Manning, John (2008). Field Guide to Fynbos. Cape Town: Struik Publishers. ISBN   978-1-77007-265-7.
  7. Umberto Quattrocchi. 2000. CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names volume II. CRC Press: Boca Raton; New York; Washington,DC;, USA. London, UK. ISBN   978-0-8493-2676-9 (vol. II). (see External links below).
  8. Heterolepis at the International Plant Names Index. (see External links below).
  9. Alexandre H.G. de Cassini. 1820. Bulletin des Sciences, par la Société Philomatique de Paris 1820:26.
  10. Arnica At: International Plant Names Index. (see External links below).
  11. Martin Henrichsen Vahl. 1791. Symbolae Botanicae part 2:91.
  12. Alexandre H.G. de Cassini. 1821. Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles. Strasbourg. edition 2. (F. Cuvier). 21:120.
  13. Vicki A. Funk, Alfonso Susanna, Tod F. Stuessy, and Randall J. Bayer. 2009. Systematics, Evolution and Biogeography of the Compositae. IAPT (International Association for Plant Taxonomy). ISBN   978-3-9501754-3-1 (see External links below).