204 Bothalia 42,2 (2012) TABLE 1.—Differences between Agrostis eriantha var. eriantha and A. eriantha var. planifolia Character A. eriantha var. eriantha A. eriantha var. planifolia Character reliability Leaf blade Folded. Flat. Could be artefact of pressing. Glumes (apices) Acute to acuminate. Acute. Overlapping character insufficient to distin- guish between two taxa. Lemma Hairy. glabrous, margins hairy. Variability of hairiness cannot be assessed on just two specimens. Palea ± Equal to slightly shorter than Shorter than lemma. Overlapping character, not sufficient to lemma. distinguish varieties. 1 1 Callus Hairs up to /3 the lemma Hairs up to /2 the lemma length, Character variable throughout genus, and length, but variable. variability uncertain due to small too variable to constitute a reliable differ- sample size. ence between these varieties. DISCuSSIOn AnD COnCLuSIOn ACKnOWLEDgEMEnTS Agrostis lachnantha was divided into two varieties, A. The Botanical Education Trust is gratefully acknowl- lachnantha var. lachnantha and A. lachnantha var. gla- edged for the financial award that was granted to the bra on the basis of hairiness of the lemma by goossen Taxonomic Problems in Plants of Conservation Impor- & Papendorf (1945). However it was later found, and tance Project. We would like to thank Mrs Lorraine confirmed in this investigation, that hairs on the lemma Mills of the Department of nature Conservation, gau- are variable in length and cannot reliably be used to dis- teng, for fieldwork assistance, and Mrs Lyn Fish of tinguish varieties. The variety was therefore reduced to SAnBI for assistance and advice throughout this project. synonymy under A. lachnantha (gibbs Russell et al. 1990). REFEREnCES The results of our investigations suggest that vari- ation in callus hair length is not a reliable character to gIBBS RuSSELL, g.E., WATSOn, L., KOEKEMOER, M., SMOOK, use to distinguish between taxa in Agrostis eriantha. L., BARKER, n.P., AnDERSOn, H.M. & DALLWITZ, M.J. given that A. eriantha var. planifolia has never been 1990. grasses of southern Africa. Memoirs of the Botanical Sur- recollected (with the exception of one other specimen vey of South Africa no. 58. national Botanic gardens/Botanical Research Institute, Pretoria. from the type locality), it is probable that it is an aber- gOOSSEn, A.P. & PAPEnDORF, M.C. 1945. The genus Agrostis. rant form. Agrostis eriantha var. planifolia is therefore South African Journal of Science 41: 181–184. reduced to synonymy under A. eriantha. This species is HACKEL, E. 1904. Vierteljahresschrift der Naturforschenden Gesells- a widespread grass and the conservation status is con- chaft in Zürich 49: 172. firmed to be Least Concern. RAIMOnDO, D., VOn STADEn, L., FODEn, W., VICTOR, J.E., HELME, n.A., TuRnER, R.C., KAMUNDI, D.A. & MAnYA- Agrostis eriantha Hack. in Vierteljahresschrift der MA, P.A. (eds). 2009. Red List of South African plants. Strelitzia naturforschenden gesellschaft in Zürich 49: 172 (1904). 25. South African national Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. VICTOR, J.E. 2006. Data Deficient flags for use in the Red List of Syntypes: South Africa, [gauteng], ‘in humidis prope South African plants. Bothalia 36: 85–86. Pretoria’, Jan. 1894, Schlechter 4144 (PRE, syn.!); [Eastern Cape], ‘in collibus prope Middleburg’, Dec. J.E. VICTOR*†, A.C. MASHAu*,**and V.J. ngOBEnI* 1893, Schlechter 4052 (PRE, syn.!). * Agrostis eriantha Hack. var. planifolia goossens & South African national Biodiversity Institute, Private Bag X101, 0001 Pretoria. E-mail: † j.victor @ sanbi.org.za / [email protected]. Papendorf:181 (1945), syn. nov. Type: South Africa, ** Student affiliation: Department of Botany, university of Pretoria, [gauteng], Irene, Doornkloof, Pole-Evans 666 (PRE, 0002 Pretoria. holo.!). MS. received: 2012-01-13. RuBIACEAE TAXOnOMIC nOTES On SERICANTHE ANDONGENSIS AnD A nEW COMBInation AnD statuS In SERICANTHE FROM LIMPOPO, SOuTH AFRICA Rubiaceae Juss. is one of the five largest families functionally unisexual and polysymmetric, often with of flowering plants with over 13 000 species (Bremer a narrow corolla tube and spreading lobes; the ovary is 2009) and belongs in the order gentianales Juss. ex inferior in most species, with a nectary or disc on top, Bercht. & J.Presl (APg III 2009; Reveal 2012b). Mem- except in members of tribe gaertnereae in subfamily bers of Rubiaceae can be recognized in the vegetative Rubioideae, which have a secondarily superior ovary state by their opposite, sometimes whorled, entire leaves (Jansen et al. 1996), and the fruit is baccate, drupaceous, and interpetiolar stipules with axillary colleters. The or capsular (Stevens 2001–[accessed December 2011]). flowers are usually bisexual or sometimes unisexual or There is strong molecular support for three subfamilies: Bothalia 42,2 (2012) 205 Cinchonoideae Raf., Dialypetalanthoideae Reveal chotrieae of subfamily Rubioideae), Pavetta (tribe [replacing Ixoroideae Raf. (Reveal 2012a)] and Rubio- Pavetteae of subfamily Dialypetalanthoideae) and Seri- ideae Bremek. ex Verdc. (Bremer & Eriksson 2009). canthe (Van Oevelen et al. 2001), however the nodules of Pavetta and Psychotria are usually punctate to ellip- The African genus Sericanthe Robbr. belongs in sub- soid, rarely only shortly linear. These galls house endo- family Dialypetalanthoideae—tribe Coffeeae DC. (Rob- symbiotic bacteria. The bacterial partners are strictly brecht & Puff 1986; Retief & Leistner 2000). Currently host specific and have been identified in Pavetta, Psy- tribe Coffeeae includes the southern African genera Cof- chotria, and recently also in Sericanthe andongensis fea L., Sericanthe Robbr., Tricalysia A.Rich. ex DC., (Hiern) Robbr. as Candidatus Burkholderia andongensis and the reinstated genus Empogona Hook.f. (Bridson and in S. petitii (n.Hallé) Robbr. as Candidatus Burkhol- 2003; Davis et al. 2007; Tosh et al. 2009). The tribe is deria petitii (Lemaire et al. 2011). characterized by very short stipules that are connate and apiculate; axillary inflorescences paired at nodes; rela- The only species of Sericanthe from South Africa tively small flowers; distinctly 2-lobed styles with diver- was formerly referred to Sericanthe andongensis (Hiern) gent arms; small, few-seeded, fleshy fruits; and seeds Robbr. var. andongensis (Robbrecht 1978; Coates Pal- with a deep ventral groove (Retief & Leistner 2000; grave 2002; Retief 2003, 2006; Klopper et al. 2006), Tosh et al. 2009). following Robbrecht (1978, 1988) who recognized two Tricalysia was more than 40 years ago considered as varieties of S. andongensis, namely var. andongensis a very broadly circumscribed genus. Hallé (1970) recog- and var. mollis Robbr. These two varieties grow more nized that several species were misplaced in Tricalysia or less sympatrically and differ in hairiness on their leaf and removed them to the new genus Neorosea n.Hallé. undersurfaces (var. andongensis with scattered hairs and Detailed revisionary work by Robbrecht (1978), how- var. mollis velutinous) and their leaf apices (var. andon- ever, showed that one of these species, N. jasminiflora gensis always has acuminate apices and var. mollis has (Klotzsch) n.Hallé (=Tricalysia jasminiflora (Klotzsch) rounded, obtuse to acute or occasionally subacuminate Benth. & Hook.f. ex Hiern), was in fact a Tricalysia. leaf apices). In her treatment of Sericanthe in Flora unfortunately this species was the one Hallé has chosen zambesiaca, Bridson (2003) redefined Robbrecht’s as the type of Neorosea, and Neorosea therefore became (1978, 1988) concept of var. andongensis and var. mollis a synonym of Tricalysia, while the remaining species for the plants occurring south of the Zambezi River. The were left without a generic name. Robbrecht (1978) varieties of subsp. andongensis grow ± sympatrically rectified this by publishing the new name Sericanthe. to the north of the Zambezi River but are geographi- Subsequently Tricalysia subgenus Empogona (Hook.f.) cally separated to the south. In Bridson’s opinion there Robbr. (1979) was raised to genus level, defined by the are five distinct taxa in Zimbabwe and South Africa: the very short calyx tube with well-developed lobes, corolla non-montane element is treated as subsp. engleri, which mostly bearded in the throat, and anthers with conspicu- is confined to the granite outcrops and serpentine hills of ously apical appendages (Tosh et al. 2009). The genus the Matobos, southwestern Zimbabwe, while the mon- Tricalysia, as currently defined, is one of the largest tane specimens have been grouped with other doubt- genera of Rubiaceae in Africa and occurs in continen- fully named specimens as three provisional species (see tal Africa (± 95 spp.), Madagascar (12 spp.) and the Sericanthe sp. A, sp. B, and sp. C). Bridson (2003: 512) Comoros (1 sp.) (Tosh et al. 2009). continued: ‘Tricalysia legatii Hutch., from South Africa, has not been included as a synonym of Sericanthe Sericanthe comprises 21 named species, confined andongensis var. andongensis because, in my opinion, to Sub-Saharan Africa (Klopper et al. 2006), with four recently described from Lower guinea (Sonke et al. it is both taxonomically and geographically discrete’. 2012). Sericanthe is distinguished from Tricalysia and She goes on to provide a few morphological differences Empogona by the presence of linear bacterial leaf galls between the South African taxon, Tricalysia legatii and or nodules (Van Oevelen et al. 2001), wing-shaped col- S. andongensis subsp. engleri (K.Krause) Bridson, the leters, pollen with a