Jump to content

Macledium spinosum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Macledium spinosum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Macledium
Species:
M. spinosum
Binomial name
Macledium spinosum
(L.) S.Ortíz
Synonyms

Dicoma spinosa (L.) Druce.

Macledium spinosum is a variable species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, that is endemic to the southern Cape regions of South Africa.[1]

Description

[edit]
Macledium spinosum in habitat

A low, compact, spreading shrub, reaching a maximum of 50 cm in height. The leaves are small (15 x 5mm), spiny, with a grey, velvet leaf-surface.

The wide (20 mm) protea-like flowerheads appear in Spring and Summer, and range in colour from white to purple.[2][3]

[edit]

A closely related species, Macledium relhanioides, occurs in similar areas in the western Little Karoo and Overberg, but tends to be confined to quartzitic outcrops and quartz-fields.

Macledium relhanioides differs by having longer leaves (20 mm) and smaller flowerheads (10 mm) that have prominent pink, spiny bracts (but only rudimentary ray-florets).

Distribution and habitat

[edit]

This species can be found from Worcester in the west, eastwards through the Little Karoo and Overberg regions, as far east as Somerset East.

It is most common in clay-rich, shale-derived soils, in Renosterveld and Succulent Karoo vegetation types.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Threatened Species Programme | SANBI Red List of South African Plants".
  2. ^ Ortiz, S. (2001). Reinstatement of the Genus Macledium Cass. (Asteraceae, Mutisieae): Morphological and Phylogenetic Arguments. Taxon, 50(3), 733-744. doi:10.2307/1223704
  3. ^ "Macledium spinosum".

Further reading

[edit]
  • KwaZulu-Natal Wild Flowers by Elsa Pooley, p. 446.
  • Lawalrée, A. & Mvukiyumwami, J. 1982. Le genre Dicoma Cassini (Asteraceae) en Afrique centrale. Bulletin du Jardin Botanique National de Belgique 52: 151–163.