Source:
SSA
Synonym(s):
Micropterum Schwantes: 17 (1928a) in part; Winkler: 19 (1957).
Description:
Annual procumbent herbs; stems and leaves papillate, glistening. Leaves +/- flat, oblong to ovate in outline, irregularly lyrate-pinnatifid. Flowers solitary, up to 10 mm in diameter, pedicellate, ebracteate; opening in afternoon, around 16:00. Sepals 5, unequal, largest lanceolate. Petals +/- 20, 2- or 3-seriate, linear-oblong, pointed, light yellow. Stamens usually +/- 5(14), 1-seriate with filamentous papillae near base; staminodes 0. Nectary of 5 inconspicuous light green glands. Ovary vaulted above; placentas parietal; stigmas (4)5(6), filiform, +/- 3 mm long, spreading. Fruit a (4)5(6)-locular capsule, of Mitrophyllum type; expanding sheets large, tapering into loose apical membranes; covering membranes reduced to a limb; closing bodies 0. Seeds with very small tubercles. F lowering mid-winter to early spring. D istinguishing characters: annual herbs with flat-growing habit and pinnatifid leaves; fruit on relatively long pedicels and flat on top; flowers yellow.
Distribution:
Species 1: Aethephyllum pinnatifidum L.f., restricted to a narrow north-south band in the SW part of the Western Cape; so far recorded from Gifberg near Vanrhynsdorp, the Cederberg, as well as the areas around Tulbagh, Paarl and Stellenbosch; the species forms part of the early post-fire vegetation in fynbos.
Classification:
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