A new Cyrtanthus species (Amaryllidaceae: Cyrtantheae) endemic to the Albany Centre, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Cyrtanthus macmasteri Snijman is a rare new species from the Albany Centre of endemism. Eastern Cape. South Africa. Most closely related to C. galpinii Baker, and autumn-flowering species with a single or rarely-flowered inflorescence from the northern regions of southern Africa. C macmasteri is distinguished by a 3 to 6-flowered inflorescence. It grows on steep banks of the Great Kei River and its tributaries and flowers in summer.


INTRODUCTION
Cyrtanthus L.f. is an exclusively sub-Saharan African genus in the family Amaryllidaceae.found only in the southern and eastern parts of the continent and frequent ly restricted to habitats with distinctive soil types, ecotones or isolated gorges.Dyer (1939) and later Reid & Dyer (1984) reviewed the 50 species known in southern Africa, whereas Nordal (1979) studied the two species and four subspecies from East Africa.
The Eastern Cape is floristically rich, phvtogeographically complex and poorly collected (Gibbs Russell & Robinson 1981;Gibbs Russell et al. 1984).In 1994 Mr J.C. McMaster, a keen naturalist who repeatedly visited remote localities to record Eastern Cape plants, sent pressed and living plants of this new species collected from near the confluence of the Bolo and Kei Rivers (Figure 1), to the Compton Herbarium.Mrs M.A. Holmes had first recorded matching material (Holmes NBG70846) from the same area in 1963.Although previously identi fied by Miss W.F. Barker as C. galpinii Baker, the acqui sition of Cameron McM aster's specimens enabled this rarely seen species to be described and illustrated.
It is possible to confuse poorly prepared specimens of C. macmasteri with those of C. collinus Ker Gawl.. an unrelated species of the Cape Region that extends along the Cape Fold Mountains from the Riviersonderend Range, Western Cape to the Zuurberg, Eastern Cape.This is due to the perianth tube in C. collinus sometimes being slightly flared towards the mouth.However, the flowers are uniformly red and without nectar guides, the style and trifid stigma arch against the upper tepals and the leaves are V-shaped in cross section, lacking the dis tinct keel found in C. macmasteri.
Distribution and habitat: Cyrtanthus macmasteri is known only along the steep east-and south-facing banks of the Great Kei River and its tributaries, the Bolo and Nqancule Rivers (Figure 1).It grows singly, is never com mon and is confined to altitudes of 640 to 1 100 m, where Valley Bushveld gives way to Dohne Sourveld (Acocks 1975), mostly amongst sandstone rocks of the Beaufort Group and less frequently in soils weathered from dolerite intrusions, with less than 500 mm annual rainfall.Woody shrubs and small trees scattered throughout the habitat include Acacia karroo, Carissa bispinosa, Cussonia spicata, Diospyros whyteana, Encephalartos princeps, and various species of Rhus.Other species of Cyrtanthus, which are sympatric with C. macmasteri, are C. macowanii Baker (McMaster NBG182475) and C. obliquus (L.f.) Aiton (Snijman 1639, NBG) but their peak flowering times do not overlap.Following the IUCN Red List criteria the species is categorized here as LR (lc): lower risk and of least concern.
Endemism: many authors (Nordenstam 1969;Cowling & Hilton-Taylor 1997;Van Wyk & Smith 2001) have reported high levels of endemism in Eastern Cape, particu larly in the Albany Centre.Following Van Wyk & Smith (2001), C. macmasteri is a noteworthy example of an Albany Centre endemic that has affinities with the subtropi cal eastern regions of sub-Saharan Africa.
FIGURE I.-Known distribution of Cyrtanthus macmasteri in theGreat Kei Ri\er Basin.Eastern Cape.South Africa.