Felicia Smaragdina

''Felicia smaragdina'' is an annual, bristly and glandular, much branched plant of up to high, that has been assigned to the family Asteraceae. It has seated, slightly succulent, line-shaped leaves of up to long and about 1 mm (0.04 in) wide. Its flower heads sit individually at the tip of the branches, and contain about twenty yellow ray florets of about long and 1 mm (0.06 in) wide, surrounding many yellow disc florets. A unique character is that when dried, the florets become greenish. The species is an endemic species of Namibia.

Description

''Felicia smaragdina'' is an annual, up to high, much branched plant. The leaves are alternately arranged on the stem, except for the very lowest pair, line-shaped, up to long and about 1 mm (0.04 in), rarely up to 2 mm (0.08 in) wide, not narrowed at base, seated, somewhat succulent in consistency, with some rough hairs pressed to the surface.

The flower heads are set individually on top of a vaguely defined, up to long stalk, which carries both bracts, bristles and glandular hairs. The florets are protected by an involucre of in diameter that consists of three or four whorls of bracts. These bracts contain resin ducts and have bristles and glandular hairs. The outer bracts are lance-shaped, about 2 mm (0.1 in) long and wide, the inner inverted lance-shaped, about 4 mm (0.18 in) long and wide. About twenty yellow ray florets have about long and 1 mm (0.06 in) wide straps that change to a greenish color when dried. The many disc florets have yellow corollas of about 3 mm long. Characteristically, the appendage at the tip of both of the branches of the style is linear in shape. Surrounding the base of the corolla are many white, deciduous pappus bristles of up to about 3 mm (0.14 in) long set with long teeth near their base. The short haired, eventually greenish brown, dry, one-seeded, indehiscent fruits called cypselae are inverted egg-shaped, about long and wide, and have a lighter ridge around the margin.

Differences from other species

''Felicia smaragdina'' is one of only few species of ''Felicia'' with yellow ray florets, which in ''F. smaragdina'' uniquely turn to a greenish colour when dried. It differs from ''F. mossamedensis'' that has a triangular appendage at the tip of the style branches, where ''F. smaragdina'' has line-shaped appendages. Compared to F. boehmii, F. smaragdina has lighter florets and narrower leaves that never have teeth.

Taxonomy

Spencer Le Marchant Moore was the first to describe this species, and he named it ''Detris smaragdina'' in 1899, based on a collection made by T.G. Een, in Damaraland, Namibia, in 1879. Moore distinguished a slightly different specimen as ''Detris smaragdina'' var. ''versicolor'' in 1904, this one based on a collection made by Kurt Dinter in Eromhunga, Namibia. Johannes Mattfeld described a specimen collected by Adolf Engler in 1913 at the old railway line near kilometer marker 114 in Damaraland, and named it ''Felicia nana''. Hermann Merxmüller reassigned Moore's species and made the combination ''Felicia smaragdina'' in 1954. Jürke Grau considered all these named synonymous in his 1973 ''Revision of the genus Felicia''.

Distribution

This species is only known from Namibia.

References

External links

line-drawing of Felicia smaragdina

distribution of Felicia smaragdina

{{Taxonbar, from= Q15596623

smaragdina
Flora of Namibia
Plants described in 1899