Two New Species of Aizoaceae (Ruschieae, Ruschoideae) from the Cape, South Africa.

Abstract

Smicrostigma warmwaterbergense is described from the summit of the Warmwaterberg on the Little Karoo of the Western Cape. It resembles S. viride in its habit and leaves but differs in that the flowers open during the day and close at night and the reproductive parts are fully visible when the flowers are open. The new species highlights the close links of Smicrostigma to Octopoma and Zeuktophyllum, which are also centered on the Little Karoo and share the leaves with a smooth surface, solitary, (sub-) sessile flowers and many-locular fruits. Namaquanthus cephalophylloides is described from patches of quartz-gravel north of Kleinzee in Namaqualand in the Northern Cape. This new species shares with N. vanheerdei the thick, finger-shaped leaves and distinctly echinate seeds but differs from it by its dwarf habit, its gray leaves and downward-pointing fruit, which drop off once mature.