Bothalia 40,2(2010) 177

Conservation Board, and Mr Buys Wiese are thanked M ULLER-DOBLIES, U. & MULLER-DOBLIES, D. 2002. De Lilii-
floris notulae. 7. De decuria altera specierum novarum generis
for permits and permission to collect specimens on the
Androcymbium (Colchicaceae) in Africa Australi s.I. Feddes
Knersvlakte. Colin Paterson-Jones kindly assisted in the
Repertorium 113: 545-599.
field and Hester Steyn prepared the map. PEDROLA-MONFORT, J., MEMBRIVES, N„ MONTSERRAT, J.M.
& CAUJAPE-CASTELLS, J. 1999a. A new species from western
REFERENCES South Africa: Androcymbium huntleyi (Colchicaceae). Fontque-
ria 53: 1,2.
KLE1ZEN, C„ MIDGELEY, J. & JOHNSON, S.I). 2008. Pollination
PEDROLA-MONFORT, J., MEMBRIVES, N. & MONTSERRAT, J.M.
systems o f Colchicum (C olchicaceae) in southern Africa: evi­
1999b. Two new Androcymbium (Colchicaceae) from western
dence for rodent pollination. Annuls o f Botany 102: 747-755.
MANNING, J.C. & GOLDBLATT, P. 2001. A remarkable new species South Africa. Fontqueria 54: 7-9.
o f Androcymbium from Northern Cape, South Africa. Bothalia SNIJMAN, D.A., MANNING, J.C., GOLDBLATT, P., FISH, L„
3 1:2 0 3 -2 0 5 . DUNCAN, G.D., ARC HER, C„ ROUX, J.P., K.URZWEIL, II.,
MANNING, J.C., FOREST, F. & V1NNERSTEN, A. 2007. The genus LINDER, H P, VERBOOM, G.A., KLOPPER. R.R. & SMITH,
Colchicum L. redefined to include Androcymbium Willd. based G .F 2008-09. Monocotyledons, fern s an d quillworts o f the
on molecular evidence. Taxon 56: 872-882. Namaqualand-Namib Succulent Karoo, Tanqua-southern Great
M0LLER-DOBL1ES, U. & M 0LLER-DO BLIES, D. 1984. Zur Kcn- Karoo and Western Mountain Karoo, southern Africa, website:
ntnis der Gattung Androcymbium (Colchicaceae) im siidlichen
http://www.sanbi.org/frames/posafram.htm/.
Afrika: Zwei Synonyma und ftinf neue Arten. Willdenowia 14:
VINNERSTEN, A. & MANNING, J.C. 2007. A new classification o f
179-197.
M ULLER-DOBLIES, U. & M 0LLER-DO BLIES, D. 1990. Zur ken- Colchicaceae. Taxon 56: 171-178.
ntnis der Gattung Androcymbium (Colchicaceae) im siidlichen
Afrika: 2. Androcymbium exiguum hat doch Artwert. Willde­ I).A. SNIJMAN* and J.C. MANNING*
nowia 19: 453—470.
MULLER-DOBLIES, U. & MULLER-DOBLIES, D. 1998. De Lilii-
tloris notulae. 6. De decuria prima specierum novarum generis * Compton Herbarium, South African National Biodiversity Institute,
Androcymbium sect. Androcymbium (Colchicaceae) in Africa Private Bag X7, 7735 Cape Town.
Australis s.I. Feddes Repertorium 109: 551-572. MS. received: 2009-09-16.

OXAL1DACEAE

REDISCOVERY AND PHYLOGENETIC POSITION OF THE RARE OXALIS PURPURATA

The most recent major taxonomic work on southern putative macro-morphological or palynologieal synapo-
African (h a lts L. (Salter 1944) features a number o f poorly morphies, which would allow at least a tentative place­
known taxa collected from only one or two localities. A ment. For some poorly known taxa, however, the paucity
significant fraction of these species are described and only of even this knowledge meant that little could be changed
known from extremely poor data. Some, such as Oxalis w ith regards to their highly dubious taxonomic status.
incerta R.Knuth and O. linoides R.Knuth, are described
from incomplete herbarium specimens that often lack bulbs Oxalis purpurata Jacq. represents one of these poorly
or even flowers. Other taxa lack locality data, or appear to known taxa. To our knowledge, this species has only been
be merely aberrant forms o f good species. Although these collected tw ice. Apart from the original description by Jac-
species were upheld by Salter (1944), he retained these taxa quin (1798), Salter (1940) found a population o f this spe­
only in the interests o f completeness, and expressed his cies growing amongst rocks in Vanrhyn's Pass, now on
gravest doubt about the validity o f several. the border between the Northern and Western Cape Prov­
inces, South Africa. Due to this poor record, this species is
Recent palynologieal (Dreyer 1996) and DNA placed in the Rare category (Dreyer et al. 2009a).
sequence-based work (Oberlander el al. 2004, 2009) on
the genus has clarified the status o f a number o f these taxa. Taxonomically, Salter (1940) placed the species in sec­
In some o f these cases a more definite answer to the uncer­ tion Cernuae subsection Purpuratae based on the acau-
tain status o f these poorly known species was achieved. lescent habit, the lack of an apical beak to the bulb, the
For example, Dreyer & Van Wyk (1996) placed Oxalis smooth nature o f the bulb tunics, and the basal peduncles.
henrici F.Bolus in synonymy under the more widespread This position was upheld in his later monograph on South
O. engleriana Schltr. on the basis o f a unique pollen type African Oxalis (Salter 1944). The other two members of
shared by both species. In other instances, new species this subsection, O. bowiei Lindl. and (). semiloba Sond.,
such as O. hvgrophila Dreyer (Kumwenda el al. 2004) and are both summer rainfall species associated with the
(). saltusbeili Dreyer & Roets (Dreyer et al. 2009b), have coastal regions o f the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
been described that have clarified relationships between The resulting biogeographic link between these summer
morphologically dissimilar taxa. Also, a phylogenetic rainfall species and (). purpurata seems unlikely if the
scheme based on DNA data is in the process o f being con­ current distributions o f the three species are compared. In
structed for the entire southern African clade o f Oxalis, of addition, O. purpurata differs from both o f the other taxa
which some preliminary phylogenies have been presented in not producing a contractile root and by bearing teeth on
in the literature (Oberlander et al. 2004, 2009). A number the filament bases, characters considered taxonomically
of poorly known taxa were not relocated after eight years important by Salter (1944).
o f intensive collection, and could not be validated and/or
systematically placed with any certainty on the basis of Oxalis purpurata has not been rediscovered at Van­
DNA data. This was not a problem for species that share rhyn's Pass after several years of visiting the site, and its
178 Bothalia 40,2 (2010)
status at this locality is uncertain, presumed extinct. A placement in the O. pes-caprae clade. Given the congru­
recent scrutiny o f unidentified Oxalis specimens in the ent DNA and morphological data, we consider O. pur­
Compton Herbarium (NBG, Cape Town. South Africa) purata to be unrelated to the summer rainfall species of
produced a specimen o f O. purpurata from the Oorlogsk- subsection Purpuratae. Instead, a position within the O.
1oof Nature Reserve, ± 10 km south o f the Pass (W.A.J. pes-caprae clade as a close relative o f O. pes-caprae,
Pretorius 707, NBG181394). This prompted more exten­ O. compressa, O. copiosa Bolus f. and O. haedulipes is
sive searches for this species in the Nature Reserve, and therefore strongly supported.
in June 2008 a flowering population was discovered in a
similar habitat to that described by Salter (1940). Herbar­
ium specimens and living material (M 011I8. Dreyer 836) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
were collected, and a leaf sample was taken for later DNA
extraction and sequencing. This research was supported by an NRF grant (GUN
no. 2053585) awarded to L. Dreyer.
Due to the recent date o f rediscov ery, this species could
not be included in large-scale phylogenetic analyses of the
genus (Oberlander et al. 2009). However, smaller-scale REFERENCES
analyses o f the nuclear Internal Transcribed Spacer region
DREYER. L.L. 1996. A palynological review Oxalis (Oxalidaceae)
(Genbank accession number FJ426283), following the in southern Africa. Ph.D. (Botany) thesis, University o f Pretoria.
protocols and procedures o f Dreyer et al. (2009b), yielded DREYER. L.L.. OBERLANDER. K.C. & PILLAY. D. 2009a. Oxalis
a confident placement within a small clade o f species with purpurata. In D. Raimondo, L. von Staden. W. Foden, J.E. Vic­
tor. N.A. Helme, R.C. Turner. D.A. Kamundi & P.A. Manyama,
umbellate inflorescences (Parsimony bootstrap support: 99
Red List o f South African plants 2009. Strelitzia 25: 451. South
%; Bayesian posterior probability: 1.00). This clade corre­ African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria.
sponds to a clade represented by Oxalis pes-caprae L. and DREYER, L.L., ROETS. F. & OBERLANDER. K.C. 2009b. Oxalis
O. purpurascens Salter in Oberlander et al. (2009), hereaf­ saltusbelli: a new Oxalis (Oxalidaceae) species from the Oor-
ter called the O. pes-caprae clade. Apart from well-known logskloof Nature Reserve, Nieuwoudtville, South Africa. South
African Journal o f Botany 75: 110-116.
weedy species such as O. pes-caprae, this clade includes DREYER, L.L. & VAN WYK. A.E. 1996. Taxonomic delimitation o f
taxa from Namibia (e.g. O. purpurascens and its allies), Oxalis engleriana. Bothalia 28: 65.
Namaqualand (e.g. O. haeclulipes Salter and its allies) JA C Q U IN , N.J. 1798. Oxalis Monographia, Iconibus lllustrata III 57:
and the western Cape Floristic Region (e.g. O. compressa 356. Wappler. Vienna.
KUMWENDA, M„ DREYER. L.L. & MARA1S, E.M. 2004. A taxo­
L.f.). The only other sampled member of subsection Pur-
nomic reassessment o f the v arieties o f Oxalis minuta (Oxali­
puratae, Oxalis bowiei, is not closely related to the O. daceae) and the change o f O. minuta var. callosa to specific rank
pes-caprae clade, but instead is closely related to other as O. hvgrophila. South African Journal o f Botany 70: 259-264.
summer rainfall taxa such as O. tragopoda Salter and O. OBERLANDER. K.C.. DREYER. L.L.. BELLSTEDT. D.U. &
REEVES, G. 2004. Congruence o f trnL-V and palynological
stellata Eckl. & Zeyh. The extremely close morphological
data sets in the southern African Oxalis L. section Angustatae
resemblance between O. bow iei and O. semiloba, and pro­ subsection Lineares. Taxon 53: 977-985.
visional DNA data (K.C. Oberlander pers. comm.), also OBERLANDER, K.C., EMSHWILLER. E„ BELLSTEDT. D.U. &
makes the latter species a very unlikely relative of O. pur­ DREYER. L.L. 2009. A model o f bulb evolution in the eudicot
purata. genus Oxalis L. (Oxalidaceae). Molecular Phylogenetics and
Evolution 5 1: 54—63.
SALTER. T.M. 1940. Some notes on the South African Oxalis o f the
The presence o f umbellate inflorescences and the
section Cernuae. Journal o f South African Botany VI: 15.
almost succulent nature o f Oxalis purpurata are in SALTER, T.M. 1944. The genus Oxalis in South Africa: a taxonomic
agreement with many other members o f the O. pes- revision. Journal o f South African Botany, Suppl. vol. 1: 1-355.
caprae clade. It does differ from all other members
o f the clade in bearing pale lilac (instead o f yellow or K.C. OBERLANDER*+. L. L. DREYER** and F. ROETS*
white) flowers, and no contractile root. However, neither
o f these character states are shared by the two summer * Department o f Conservation Ecology and Entomology. Stellenbosch
rainfall taxa either. Most other morphological (i.e. teeth University, Private Bag X I. 7602 Matieland, Stellenbosch.
** Department o f Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University. Pri­
present on the filaments, seven or more ovules per car­
vate Bag X I, 7602 Matieland, Stellenbosch.
pel. glabrous corolla) and palynological (finely reticu­ + corresponding author. E-mail: kco(a sun.ac.za.
late tectum: Dreyer 1996) features are congruent with a MS. received: 2009-09-28.

EUPHORBIACEAE

A NEW NAME FOR EUPHORBIA CHAMAECLADA FROM ANGOLA

The name Euphorbia chamaeclada Bruyns. w hich was REFERENCES

published in Bothalia 39 (2009: 219). is illegitimate since BRUYNS. PV. 2009. A new species o f succulent Euphorbia from
it was used before for a species from Mexico (Ule 1908). southern Angola. Bothalia 39: 2 19 - 2 2 1.
ULE, E. 1908. Beitrage /ur Flora von Bahia. I. Botanische Jahrbiicher
A new name is proposed for the species from Angola.
42:1 9 1 -2 3 8 .

Euphorbia neochamaeclada Bruyns. nom. nov. P.V. BRUYNS*

E. cham aeclada Bruyns in Bothalia 39: 219 (2009). Type:
Angola. Nam ibe Dist., 10 km towards Sao Nicolau. 300 m. January * Bolus Herbarium. University o f Cape Town, Private Bag, 7700
2006, Bruvns 10402a (BOL. holo.; E. MO. iso.), nom illegit.. non Rondebosch.
Ule (1908). V1S. received: 2010-05-18.