Studies in the Ericoideae ( Ericaceae ) . XVI . Six new species of Erica from the Western Cape , South Africa .

Six new species of Erica L. from the mountains of the Western Cape are described: E. alnea E.G.H. Oliv., E. hexensis E.G.H. Oliv., E. hispiduloides E.G.H. Oliv. and E. tarantulae E.G.H. Oliv. from the inland areas centred on the Hex River Mountains; E. hottentotica E.G.H. Oliv. and E. magistrati E.G.H. Oliv. from the Hottentots Holland Mountains between Stellenbosch and Somerset West.


INTRODUCTION
During our investigations of 'incertae' material housed in herbaria, a number of new taxa have been encountered.Five small-flowered species that would currently be placed in the section Arsace and one in the section Eurystoma, according to Flora capensis (Guthrie & Bolus 1905), are dealt with in this paper.Most of the material has resulted from the remarkable collecting done by T.P. Stokoe and then Miss Elsie Esterhuysen on the high mountains of the Western Cape during the period from the 1930's to the 1980's.
It is closely related to the very common and wide spread E. hispidula L. which has a shiny rather than dull appearance on close examination, stiffer, hispid hairs which are sparser than the dense puberulous hairs of the new species, particularly on the branches.E. hispidula has lanceolate glabrous cartilaginous sepals and the corolla is more urceolate with spreading lobes.It can also be dis tinguished from another species, E. glandulipila Compton, which has long gland-tipped hairs on the sepals, anther appendages and a peltate stigma.The other close relative, E. maesta Bolus, differs in having no sessile glands on the sepals, a glabrous ovary and plumose hairs on branches and leaves.

E.
hispiduloides occurs at high altitudes on the moun tains around the Worcester basin with an outlier to the north in the southern Cedarberg and an extension eastwards along the Klein and Great Swartberg as far as Blesberg (Figure 2).The species could well be more fre quent, but may have been overlooked due to its close su perficial resemblence to E. hispidula which is probably the commonest species of Erica in the Western Cape.
The habitat of the species is distinctive, being on moist rock ledges on cliffs or very steep gullies on the south side of mountains between 1 500 and 2100 m where it forms dense woody shrubs up to 1.2 m tall.On the ledges facing south on Jonaskop, the plants were not common and displayed two colour forms in the flowers on different plants-creamy yellow with a tinge of pink or pure bright pink.The latter were the taller shrubs, otherwise no dif ferences could be found between the two forms.Flowers from September to December.

2.
Erica hexensis E.G.H. O l i v sp.nov., ( § Arsace), E. hispidulae L. et E. glandulipilae Compton afifinis sed Shrub erect, compact up to 1 m tall.Branches erect with numerous soft small lateral branchlets, puberulous, some hairs up to 0.2 mm long and with long stouter long forked hairs up to 0.5 mm long and occasional sessile red glands intermixed, older branches with more forked hairs, with no infrafoliar ridges, bark grey, splitting irregularly when older.Leaves 3-nate, 2.0 x 0.5 mm, oblong-elliptic, open-backed, sparsely long villous mainly towards mar gins, abaxially shortly hispid; petiole ± 0.5 mm long, spar sely long ciliate.Flowers 3-nate at ends of very short lateral branchlets, mostly facing upwards; pedicel ± 1.4 mm long, glabrous or occasionally with a few short hairs; bract and bracteoles median 0.4 and 0.3 mm long respec tively, oblong not sulcate, glabrous sparsely ciliate with long hairs.Calyx 4-lobed, fused at base only, lobes 0.8 mm long, lanceolate, acute, sulcate in upper half, half as long as corolla, ciliate with long thin hairs and with some scattered on abaxial side.Corolla 4-lobed.1.5 x 1.4 mm.cyathiform, glabrous, dusky red to pink, lobes obtuse, crenate-fimbriate, erect.Stamens 8 included; filaments 0.7 mm long, narrowly linear from a slightly broader base with a subsigmoid bend below anther, glabrous; anther just manifest, 0.8 x 0.4 mm, ovate, obtuse, erect, dorsally attached near base, muticous, very shortly strigose on adaxial edge; pore one third to half length of theca; pollen in tetrads.Ovary 4-locular, 4-lobed, 0.6 x 0.6 mm.broadly ellipsoid and slightly emarginate, finely papillate, with no Inge Ofiuzr nectary glands at base, ± 8 ovules per locule, subpendulous, placenta bulbous in upper half; style 0.5-1.0mm long, slightly to much exserted, glabrous; stigma cyathi form, red.Fruit unknown.Figure 3. E. hexensis is another of the small-flowered species in the section Arsace that bears a resemblance to the very common E. hispidula.From this it may be distinguished by the long soft hairs with long-forked tips on the branches, lack of glands except a few sessile ones on the branches, distinct white median line down the sepals, cyathiform corolla and papillate-verrucose ovary.
From the more eastern E. glandulipila it differs in the lack of glands and anther appendages, the ovary surface and the cyathiform stigma, the latter having a subpeltatecapitate stigma.The type of hairs on the branches and the ovary indumentum serve to distinguish it further from E. hispiduloides.
As the name suggests the distibution of this species is centred on the high peaks collectively known as the Hex River Mountains in the Worcester/Ceres Districts (Figure 4).It grows on southwest-to southeast-facing slopes which are cool and moist.Flowers from September to November.

3.
Erica Shrub erect, to 600 mm tall, much branched, dense, lax and spreading in shady places.Branches hispidulous with no infrafoliar ridges, bark grey, flaking irregularly.Leaves 3-nate, appressed to spreading, reflexed in shaded plants, 2.0-2.5 x 0.6 mm, linear-elliptic, flat adaxially with acute margins, convex and sulcate abaxially, glabrous and shortly ciliolate; petiole ± 0.5 mm long, ciliolate, otherwise glabrous.Flowers 3 to 6-nate at ends of numerous short lateral branchlets; pedicel ± 2 mm long, glabrous or with occasional short hairs at base; bract median to remote, ± 0.5 mm long, oblong-lanceolate, slightly sulcate subapically, ciliolate; bracteoles opposite, just above bract and similar to bract.Calyx 4-lobed, fused in lower quarter, glabrous, lobes broadly ovate, subacute, glabrous, ciliolate, pink.Corolla 4-lobed, broadly ellip soid, 2.0 x 1.5 mm, glabrous, pink, lobes broadly rounded, erect to incurved, one third the length of corolla.Stamens 8 included; filaments ± 0.5 mm long, oblong, almost straight, glabrous; anthers erect, muticous, glabrous, thecae ellipsoid, 0.8 x 0.3 mm, with a few stiff hairs ± 0.15 mm long on adaxial edges; pore two thirds the length of theca; pollen in tetrads.Ovary 4-iocular, 8-lobed, globose and emarginate, 0.5 x 0.7 mm, glabrous, no nec taries basally, ovules 20-26 per locule pendent from large complete placenta; style 0.5-1.0mm long, glabrous, red; stigma cyathiform, manifest to well exserted, red.Capsule globose, 1.4 x 1.0 mm, septa free from central axis; seeds 0.2 x 0.1 mm, subovoid-ellipsoid, irregularly angled, the angles often sharp, shallowly reticulate, yellow to yel lowish brown.Figure 5. E. alnea is most closely related to E. cupuliflora on account of the bulbous joined base of the calyx but differs in having a broadly ellipsoid corolla, muticous anthers placed on short broad filaments and with short stout setae on the adaxial edges of the thecae, a glabrous ovary and far exserted cyathiform stigma.Dulfer's (1963) species has an open cyathiform flower, scabrid anthers with long awns, a sparsely pubescent ovary and subcapitatecyathiform stigma which is included.He likened his species to E. micrandra Bolus but that species has remark able small anther thecae with relatively large narrow crests, and also to E. monantha Compton which has aristate leaves and belongs to the E. longipedunculata Lodd.complex.The species could also be mistaken for E. tenuis Salisb.or E. leptopus Benth.which have the same general facies but simple stigmas.
All of the species mentioned above occur in the Ceres District.The close ally, E. cupuliflora, occurs on sandy flats and lower slopes, whereas the new species is con fined to damp slopes, streamsides and ledges at higher altitudes from the Worcester/Ceres area with an outlier in the central Cedarberg to the north (Figure 6).The type
This very distinct species is unique in the genus for the form of the anther appendages which are broad, very irregularly shaped crests which, in some anthers, may be absent on one side (Figure 71).They are remarkable in sometimes being larger above the point of attachment to the theca and therefore totally ascending.
The superficial facies of the calycine, open-mouthed flowers with manifest stamens would place the species in the section Eurystoma of Flora capensis (Guthrie & Bolus 1905) where it shows some resemblance to several species which occur in the same area: E. calycina, E. brevicaulis and E. costatisepala H.A. Baker.These latter species have complex dendroid hairs on many parts of the plant and have long pedicels.E. tarantulae has a sparse complement of short fine simple hairs and almost subsessile flowers.The style is also unusual in being apically papillate, a condition found only in the section Platyspora.
E. tarantulae appears to be very restricted in its dis tribution, being known only in the Hex River Mountains complex as two localized collections from Tarantula and Milner Peaks (Figure 8).It is recorded as growing on stony ground where it forms low, spreading shrublets.Rowers from early August to late in October.
This species is closely related to the common and widespread E. parviflora but can easily be distinguished by its broader, ovate, petaloid, pink sepals, finely hairy corolla and broad cyathiform stigma.The latter species has linear-lanceolate foliaceous sepals, a coarsely long haired corolla and a small capitate stigma.The flowers of E. hottentotica are larger than those of E. parviflora al though the form of the latter in the Hottentots Holland Mountains has fairly large flowers.E. parviflora is generally a scrambling plant in marshes, whereas the new species appears to form an erect sturdy shrub which may reach a height of 2.5 m (.Stokoe 4009).There is also a resemblance to some forms of the common E. sitiens Klotzsch which has, however, a glabrous corolla, foliaceous sepals and a capitate stigma.This species is confined to the higher reaches of the Hot tentots-Holland Mountains above Somerset West, hence the name (Figure 6).It has been recorded with the following species, E. magistral, on Langkloofberg frequenting similar habitats-moist southeast-facing slopes.The Hottentots-Hol land Mountains host the largest number of species of Erica: 175 spp.have been recorded so far (Oliver et al. 1983).Flowers from September to late November.
Erect woody shrub 0.6-1.8m tall.Branches densely puberulous, the older with many long spreading stouter gland-tipped hairs intermixed, without infrafoliar ridges, bark splitting irregularly with age.Leaves 3-nate, imbri cate to spreading, 4.0 x 0.8 mm, oblong-elliptic, elliptic in section with rounded margins, slightly open-backed, apex subacute sometimes the younger ending in a long gland-tipped hair, the younger pubescent with adpressed hairs, becoming glabrous abaxially, with scattered short hairs, marginally rarely also with long stouter gland-tipped hairs; petiole ± 0.8 mm long, ciliolate.Flowers mainly 3-nate, terminal on short lateral branchlets 0.5-10.0mm long, erect to slightly spreading; pedicel ± 3 mm long, softly puberulous; bract median to approximate, lanceo late, 2.0 x 0.6 mm, sulcate in upper half, puberulous, white; bracteoles opposite, just above the bract, like bract but smaller.Calyx 4-lobed very slightly fused at base, lobes 2.0 x 0.6 mm, ovate, acute, sulcate in upper third, puberulous and ciliolate, white.Corolla 4-lobed, 3.0 x 2.5 mm, urceolate to cyathiform, glabrous or very rarely with a few short hairs, lobes ± 0.5 mm long, rounded, erect to slightly reflexed.Stamens 8 included; filaments filiform, 2.5 x 0.5 mm, erect, subsigmoid below anther, glabrous; anthers erect, placed just above ovary, dorsally attached near base, appendiculate, thecae 2.5 mm long, narrowly ovate-oblong, glabrous, crests ± 0.6 mm long, slightly ser rate, attached at top of filament, pore half length of theca; pollen in tetrads.Ovary 4-locular, 8-lobed, broadly obovate, emarginate, 2.2 x 2.2 mm, villous mainly in upper half and in lower half along lobe edges, with no nectary glands at base, 15-20 ovules per locule spreading from a rounded central placenta; style ± 2.5 mm long, straight, glabrous, exserted; stigma cyathiform with 4 central stigmatic papillae, glabrous.Fruit unknown.Fig ure 10.This species in the section Arsace is allied to E. salax Salisb.which has been collected only a few times in the same area.The latter has no long gland-tipped hairs on the branches, but has very short dendroid or gland-tipped marginal hairs on the leaves, a more cyathiform corolla and glabrous ovary.We have been able to examine Salisbury's type (Masson s.n., Herb. Salisb. in Kew) to verify the correct identity of the few collections which were tentatively identified as this species.
There are also slight resemblances to E. sphaeroidea Dulfer and E. argyrea Guthrie & Bolus from the same area, but these have puberulous corollas and numerous gland-tipped hairs on various other parts of the plant in addition.

FIGURE
FIGURE 2.-The known distribution of Erica hispiduloides.

FIGURE 8 .-
FIGURE 8.-The known distribution o f Erica t a r a n t u l a e and E. m agistrati,Q .
E. magistrati is confined to the mountains in the Stel lenbosch/Somerset-West area (Figure8) where it is found mainly on south-facing slopes from 450 m to 1 068 m in -situations receiving extra moisture.Several collections are associated with Landdrostkop (Magistrate's Head) in the Hottentots-Holland range, hence the name of the species.Here there is often a good deposition of moisture from the dense moving clouds produced by the strong southeast winds which occur frequently during the summer months.Flowers from August to December.