''Leucospermum innovans'' is an upright evergreen shrub with many pustules growing on the lower branches, wedge-shaped leaves, and oval, flower heads that are yellow on the outside, but with scarlet stripes on the inside of the perianth claws, with long styles sticking far beyond the perianths, jointly giving the impression of a pincushion. It is called Pondoland pincushion or Transkei pincushion in English. Flowers occur on and off between July and December, but flowering peaks in September and October.

Description

''Leucospermum innovans'' Is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

upright, rounded shrub of up to in diameter. The main stems grow from a woody rootstock of up to thick. The flowering branches are very straight, upright and slender, ½ cm (0.2 in) thick, with a felty appearance due to fine crisped hairs, interspersed with many long straight hairs. The leaves are inverted egg-shaped to wedge-shaped or very broadly wedge-shaped, long and broad, narrowing at the foot Into a stalk, the tip rounded or blunt often deeply incised and ending in five to ten bony teeth, hairless, but felty near the stalk. The flower heads are globe-shaped, across, seated or with a stalk of up to 1½ cm (0.6 in) long. The common base of the flowers in the same head is cylinder-shaped, about long and wide. The

bracts In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

subtending the head are broadly oval with a pointy tip 1 cm long and 8 mm wide, cartilaginous in consistency, the outer surface densely felty, and distinctly grey near the tip. The

subtending the individual flower is oval with a pointy tip, envelopping the flower at the foot, very densely woolly near the base and felty higher up, softly cartilaginous in consistency and about long and wide. The lower part of the

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower, and structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepals when ...

called tube, that remains merged when the flower is open, is about long, somewhat compressed sideways, narrow near the foot at and bulging higher up with a width of about ½ cm (0.2 in), hairless at its foot and slightly felty higher up. The middle part (or claws) is densely felty and also has straight long hairs on the outer surface, all strongly curled back after the flower opens. The upper part (or limbs), which enclosed the pollen presenter in the bud, are very narrowly ellipse-shaped, each about 5 mm long and 1½ mm wide, felty with in addition long straight hairs. The limb facing the edge of the head is less densely felty than the other three. From the centre of the perianth emerges a slender tapering, style of about long, slightly arching toward the centre of the head. The thickened part at the tip of the style called pollen presenter is narrowly cone-shaped with a pointy tip, about long and 1 mm wide long, with the groove that functions as the stigma across the very tip.

Differences with related species

''L. innovans'' differs from its close relative ''L. cuneiforme'' because it has very broadly wedge-shaped to inverted egg-shaped leaves, 3–5 cm wide, deeply incised with five to ten teeth near the tip, and the lower, merged part of the

, called tube, is somewhat compressed sideways, narrow near the foot but somewhat bulging higher up. ''L. cuneiforme'' on the other hand has narrow to broadly wedge-shaped leaves 0.6–3 cm wide, with three to ten teeth, and the perianth tube cylinder-shaped and slightly compressed sideways.

Taxonomy

As far as known, the Pondoland pincushion was first collected for science by a Mr. William Tyson in October 1885. This and later collected plants that are now considered to belong to the Pondoland pincushion were initially identified as ''L. attenuatum'' R.Br. (now '' Leucospermum cuneiforme''). In 1970,

John Patrick Rourke John Patrick Rourke FMLS (born 26 March 1942, in Cape Town) is a South African botanist, who worked at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden and became curator of the Compton Herbarium. He is a specialist in the flora of the Cape Floristi ...

decided the differences with ''L. cuneiforme'' are consistent, and he described it as a

new species A species description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species that have be ...

, calling it ''Leucospermum innovans''. ''Leucospermum innovans'' is assigned to the cylindric pincushions, section '' Crassicaudex''. The species name ''innovans'' is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and means “novelty”.

Distribution, habitat and ecology

''L. innovans'' can only be found in the subtropical coastal belt between Lusikisiki (

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

province) and

Port Shepstone Port Shepstone is a large town situated on the mouth of the Mzimkhulu River, the largest river on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast of South Africa. It is located halfway between Hibberdene and Margate and is positioned 120 km south of Durban. ...

(in

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

), where it grows mostly within about from the sea. The Pondoland pincushion appears in a vegetation type called Pondoland Coastal Plateau Sourveld, always on or near outcrops of Table Mountain Sandstone. Here, the annual precipitation is fairly high at , mostly during the summer. The species is a very resistant to fire, and new shoots appear quickly from the underground rootstock after the above grond parts have been burnt off. Because fires occur with intervals of only a few years, the plants mostly remain lower than , but if protected may reach 1 m. The Pondoland pincushion is pollinated by birds. The fruits are ripe about two months after flowering and fall to the ground. Here, these are collected by ants who carry them to their underground nests.

Conservation

The Pondoland pincushion is considered an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

due to a very fragmented and small area of , and a continuing decline caused by extending agriculture,

afforestation Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees (forestation) in an area where there was no previous tree cover. Many government and non-governmental organizations directly engage in afforestation programs to create forests a ...

and too high frequency fires.

References

External links

several photos
{{Taxonbar, from=Q18078390 Endemic flora of South Africa cuneiforme Plants described in 1970 Flora of the Cape Provinces Flora of KwaZulu-Natal