De Liliifloris Notulae 8. Two new Massonia species (Hyacinthaceae) from South Africa
✍ Scribed by Ute Müller-Doblies; Dietrich Müller-Doblies
- Book ID
- 102204179
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2010
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 72 KB
- Volume
- 121
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0014-8962
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
A re‐investigation of the Stockholm paratype of Massonia tenella Soland. ex Baker 1871, Drège 3509 (K, S!) from Witbergen (–3027CA, Lady Grey) in the Eastern Cape in combination with the study of a living seedling leaf from a second locality confirmed our cautious earlier suggestion (U. & D. Müller‐Doblies 1997) that it is a new species. Massonia wittebergensis U.Müll.‐Doblies & D.Müll.‐Doblies has a unique leaf indument in Massonieae of laterally compressed curved emergences in Drège's herbarium specimen. Living emergences of a seedling leaf are less laterally compressed. Living and herbarium emergences share a further unique detail: the rounded tip is uneven with projecting cells. As to the distribution, M. tenella is only known from the Bokkeveld escarpment (Western Cape, Baker 1897), whereas M. wittebergensis occurs in the Drakensberge eight degrees longitude further east in the Eastern Cape.
As to the second species treated here, a closer investigation of a leaf and a withered fresh inflorescence showed that it is a new species too: Masso‐ nia sempervirens U.Müll.‐Doblies, G.Milkuhn & D.Müll.‐Doblies. The retired horticulturist, Gottfried Milkuhn (Dresden), had received this enigmatic remarkable evergreen Massonia species in 2007 from a Dutch succulent grower as “Whiteheadia jasminiflora ” from Prince Albert (Western Cape) (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)