The specimen was collected in May 2013, during fieldwork in the Cusseque core site for the Future Okavango Project, in one central 100 m² subplot of a 20 m × 50 m plot (Felfili, Carvalho & Haidar 2005). The other two records were collected in a general walking survey method (Filgueiras et al. 1994). Fertile material was collected and prepared using traditional botanical methods (Fish 1999; Victor et al. 2004). A set of duplicate specimens was prepared and sent to Kew Herbarium, where the specimen was determined.

The collection was identified in consultation with the author of the recent taxonomic revision of Schistostephium, applying the characters listed in that work, and by comparison of the material with herbarium collections at Kew, British Museum of Natural History (BM) and electronic resources available through JStor Plants and the LISC online catalogue. The specimen was mounted and labelled in LUBA, the barcode was created from collector number and printed in Zebra Printer (TLP 2844), the digitalisation was done in a Scan Epson (10000 XL), following JStor protocols, and the resultant image was saved in standardised format.

Collection of biological materials in Angola is not currently regulated by specific legislation. The project during which the material was collected comes under the framework of a bilateral agreement between Angola, represented by the Instituto Superior de Ciências de Educação da Huíla (ISCED – Huíla) in Lubango, and Germany, represented by the University of Hamburg (UHH). Transfer of biological material to Kew was approved by Provincial Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment. All International Conventions, to which Angola is signatory, such as Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (1973), Convention on Biological Diversity (1992), International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (2004), and all other national and international relevant instruments concerning biodiversity were taken into consideration.

Erect woody herb or small shrub to 1.2 m with striate pubescent stems. Leaves distributed along the main stem, alternate, sessile or shortly petiolate, blade variably pinnatisectly divided, often with two or three orders of branching, pubescent on both surfaces. Capitula solitary or in branched clusters, involucre broadly and shallowly campanulate, (4–)6 mm – 8 mm diameter; phyllaries c. 30, multiseriate and subequal but apex and margins of inner phyllaries becoming more hyaline; receptacle broadly domed and hollow. Florets: outermost florets female, 5 or fewer (often absent), corolla yellow, tube 1.6 mm – 2.3 mm long, glabrous, lobes 0.2 mm – 0.4 mm long, acute and slightly inturned, style drying yellow. Cypselas of female florets flattened and winged, c. 0.8 mm × 0.6 mm; pappus absent. Inner florets hermaphrodite, 30–60(–110), corolla yellow, tube c. 1.5 mm long, lobes 0.3 mm – 0.4 mm long, acute and slightly inturned forming a hood, outer surface of lobe apex with granular yellow glands; anthers yellow, c. 0.8 mm long, anther appendages acute or rounded, base acute, anther collar pigmented. Cypselas of hermaphrodite florets c. 1.3 mm long, sometimes glandular, innermost achenes sometimes with apparently unicellular setulae on inner angle; pappus absent.

Schistostephium crataegifolium occurs from the Eastern Cape of South Africa through to southern Tanzania and the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, mostly following the more upland or montane regions towards the eastern side of the continent. The new record represents a westward disjunction of around 1000 km from Katanga (Democratic Republic of Congo) to the Bié Plateau of central Angola (Figure 1), where it occurs at moderate altitude (c. 1560 m) in an area with mean annual precipitation of around 1000 mm per year (Gröngröft et al. 2013; Weber 2013). Two other records were made by a team member in the study area (13.699870 S, 17. 074210 E) and close by Comuna do Mumbué (13.931679 S, 197102 E). The area where the species was collected is covered in moist miombo woodland dominated by Brachystegia spp., Julbernardia paniculata and Cryptosepalum exfoliatum subsp. pseudotaxus (Barbosa 1970; Revermann & Finckh 2013; Revermann et al. 2013; Figure 2).

ANGOLA. Bié Province: Cusseque study area, Chitembo, 13.70056 S, 17.05258 E, 14 May 2013, Maiato FM971 (K!, LUBA!) (Figures 3 and 4).