Three new species of Diascia (Scrophulariaceae) from the western Cape

Abstract

Three annual Diascia species are described from the western Cape. Two species, D maculata K.E. Steiner and D. humilis K.E. Steiner have small flowers and are closely related.  D. maculata is characterized by a slightly gibbous corolla with no spurs or sacs, erect stamens, and a distinct patch of oil-secreting trichomes in the tube at the base of each upper and lateral corolla lobe. D. humilis is characterized by a bisaccate corolla, forward projecting stamens and oil-secreting trichomes localized in corolla sacs. The third new species,  D hexensis K.E. Steiner, is most similar to D. sacculata Benth.. but it differs from that species by its larger flowers and much longer spurs which curve downward instead of upward.