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Type: Article
Published: 2017-03-07
Page range: 71–76
Abstract views: 21
PDF downloaded: 1

Clarification of the concept of Aframmi (Heteromorpheae, Apiaceae) and a new monotypic genus, Normantha

Department of Botany and Plant Biotechnology, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, Johannesburg, South Africa. Compton Herbarium, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Private Bag X7, Claremont 7735, Cape Town, South Africa.
Department of Botany and Plant Biotechnology, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Department of Botany and Plant Biotechnology, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, Johannesburg, South Africa.
African Apiaceae fruit anatomy Heteromorpha new species Normantha filiformis Physotrichia Pseudocarum Eudicots

Abstract

Aframmi is a mixed concept made up of disparate elements from three different genera. Recent studies of Aframmi angolense, the type species of Aframmi, provide evidence that the species belongs to the genus Heteromorpha. An examination of the type specimen of Aframmi longiradiatum shows it to be fundamentally different from the generitype, A. angolense, and better placed in Physotrichia, in which it was originally described. The third element, previously misidentified as A. longiradiatum, is an as yet undescribed species with populations from both sides of the Zambia-Tanzania border as well as Angola. This new species is here accommodated in a new monotypic genus and described as Normantha filiformis P.J.D.Winter. The affinities of Normantha P.J.D.Winter & B-E.van Wyk with other genera currently considered to belong in the tribe Heteromorpheae are discussed. A combination of inflorescence and fruit morphological evidence as well as the extended, woody vegetative axis in common with the other (typically woody) genera in the tribe, lead us to postulate an affinity with Pseudocarum.