Calotesta

Last updated

Calotesta
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Asteroideae
Tribe: Gnaphalieae
Genus: Calotesta
P.O.Karis
Species:
C. alba
Binomial name
Calotesta alba
P.O.Karis

Calotesta is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, containing the single species Calotesta alba. It is endemic to the Western Cape of South Africa, where it is limited to the Klein Swartberge Mountains. [1]

This plant is characterized by the thick, cutinized coating on its seeds. [2] When the species was described in 1990, it fit into no existing genera, so the new genus Calotesta was erected to house it. [3]

The plant grows on steep sandstone cliff faces in the fynbos. [1]

It is designated a critically rare taxon in South Africa because it is limited to a single mountain range, but it is not considered to be a threatened species. [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>Senecio</i> Genus of flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae

Senecio is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family (Asteraceae) that includes ragworts and groundsels.

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

The genus Helichrysum consists of an estimated 600 species of flowering plants in the sunflower family (Asteraceae). The type species is Helichrysum orientale. They often go by the names everlasting, immortelle, and strawflower. The name is derived from the Greek words ἑλίσσω and χρῡσός.

Gnaphalieae A tribe of flowering plants belonging to the aster, daisy, and sunflower family

The Gnaphalieae are a tribe of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It is most closely related to the tribes Anthemideae, Astereae, and Calenduleae.

<i>Craspedia</i> (plant) Genus of Australasian flowering plants of Asteraceae (daisy) family

Craspedia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae commonly known as billy buttons and woollyheads. They are native to Australia and New Zealand where they grow in a variety of habitats from sea level to the Alps. The genus is found in every state of Australia except the Northern Territory. In New Zealand, Craspedia is found from East Cape on the North Island south to Stewart Island. It also occurs on Campbell Island and the Chatham Islands.

<i>Mimetes</i> Genus of shrubs in the family Proteaceae from South Africa

Mimetes, the pagoda, is a genus of evergreen shrubs or small trees 0.5–6 m (1.6–19.7 ft) high, with thirteen species assigned to the family Proteaceae. This genus, as with other proteas, is popular with nectarivorous birds such as the Cape sugarbird and several sunbird species. All species of Mimetes are endemic to the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa.

Asteroideae Subfamily of flowering plants

Asteroideae is a subfamily of the plant family Asteraceae. It contains about 70% of the species of the family. It consists of several tribes, including Astereae, Calenduleae, Eupatorieae, Gnaphalieae, Heliantheae, Senecioneae and Tageteae. Asteroideae contains plants found all over the world, many of which are shrubby. There are about 1,135 genera and 17,200 species within this subfamily; the largest genera by number of species are Helichrysum (500–600) and Artemisia (550).

Calenduleae Tribe of flowering plants

Calenduleae is a flowering plant tribe of the family Asteraceae. Calenduleae has been widely recognized since Alexandre de Cassini in the early 19th century. There are eight genera and over 110 species, mostly found in South Africa.

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

Anemocarpa is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, endemic to Australia.

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

Argentipallium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. The genus, which is endemic to Australia, was first formally described in 1992 by Paul G. Wilson in the botanical journal Nutsyia.

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

Phaenocoma is a genus of South African plants in the tribe Gnaphalieae within the family Asteraceae. The name is derived from the Greek roots φαίνω and κόμη (hair), which refer to dry and shiny involucral bracts.

Edmondia (plant) Genus of flowering plants

Edmondia is a genus of plants in the family Asteraceae, endemic to the Fynbos shrublands in the Cape Province area of South Africa.

Alatoseta is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae described as a genus in 1931.

Langebergia is a genus of South African flowering plants in the tribe Gnaphalieae within the family Asteraceae.

Tenrhynea is a genus of Southern African plants in the tribe Gnaphalieae within the family Asteraceae.

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

Euchiton is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. They are native to Australasia and the Pacific. Some have been introduced far outside their native ranges.

<i>Mairia</i> Genus of plants in the daisy family from South Africa

Mairia is a genus of perennial herbaceous plants assigned to the daisy family. All species have leathery, entire or toothed leaves in rosettes, directly from the underground rootstock, and one or few flower heads sit at the top of the stems that carry few bracts. These have a whorl of white to mauve ray florets surrounding yellow disc florets in the centre. In general, flowering only occurs after the vegetation has burned down. The six species currently assigned to Mairia are endemic to the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. Some of the species are called fire daisy in English and vuuraster in Afrikaans.

Cymbolaena is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the aster family, Asteraceae, containing the single species Cymbolaena griffithii. It is native to Asia, where it is distributed from Turkey to Pakistan. It is one of several genera in "the Filago group," and some authors include it within the genus Filago.

<i>Coronidium elatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Coronidium elatum, commonly known as the white paper daisy or tall everlasting, is a perennial herbaceous shrub in the family Asteraceae found in open forests in eastern Australia. A woody shrub 0.6 to 2 m tall, it has white flowers which appear in spring. It was known as Helichrysum elatum for many years until it was finally reviewed in 2008.

Paul Graham Wilson is an Australian botanist. He has been a most prolific contributor to the journal Nuytsia, contributing to the first issue in 1970 and to the 12th volume in 1998, which was dedicated to him for his contributions to plant taxonomy and to celebrate his 70th birthday. Since his retirement from the Western Australian Herbarium in 1993, he has helped to maintain a comprehensive census of the flora of Western Australia.

<i>Felicia</i> (plant) Genus of shrublets, perennials and annuals in the daisy family

Felicia is a genus of small shrubs, perennial or annual herbaceous plants, with 85 known species, that is assigned to the daisy family. Like in almost all Asteraceae, the individual flowers are 5-merous, small and clustered in typical heads, and which are surrounded by an involucre of, in this case between two and four whorls of, bracts. In Felicia, the centre of the head is taken by yellow, seldom whitish or blackish blue disc florets, and is almost always surrounded by one single whorl of mostly purple, sometimes blue, pink, white or yellow ligulate florets and rarely ligulate florets are absent. These florets sit on a common base and are not individually subtended by a bract. Most species occur in the Cape Floristic Region, which is most probably the area where the genus originates and had most of its development. Some species can be found in the eastern half of Africa up to Sudan and the south-western Arabian peninsula, while on the west coast species can be found from the Cape to Angola and one species having outposts on the Cameroon-Nigeria border and central Nigeria. Some species of Felicia are cultivated as ornamentals and several hybrids have been developed for that purpose.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Calotesta alba. Red List of South African Plants. South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).
  2. Karis, P. O. (1990). Three new genera of the AsteraceaeGnaphalieae from the Cape Region. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 102(1), 23-36.
  3. Bengtson, A., et al. (2011). Phylogeny and generic delimitation of the Metalasia clade (AsteraceaeGnaphalieae). International Journal of Plant Sciences 172(8), 1067-75.