Names and synonyms

Oedera conferta (Hutch.) Anderb. & K.Bremer
= Relhania conferta Hutchinson

Type

Pearson & Pillans, Percy Sladen Mem. Exp. No. 5797, Kamiesberg, rock crevices of upper W slopes of Sneeuwkop, 1910 (K, BOL, NBG, SAM).

Derivation of names

Oedera = after George Christian Oeder (1728-1791), professor of Botany in Copenhagen, author of Flora Danica
confertus = crowded, packed close together

Diagnostic characters

Cushion-like habit
Capitula small, slender
Capitula solitary or paired in cymes
Leaves more or less flat and elliptic to obovate

Description

A densely branched, up to c. 0.3 m high, rounded shrublet. Stems ascending-erect, glabrous, leafy, becoming nude and marked with leaf-scars. Leaves alternate or approaching opposite, spreading-squarrose, � flat, mid-ribbed, elliptic-obovate, 3.5-5 x 1.2-2.5 mm, glabrous or sparsely pilose marginally, indistinctly glandular-punctate, acute, with somewhat hooked apex. Capitula solitary or paired, terminal; peduncles up to 4 mm long. Involucre narrowly urn-shaped-cylindrical, 1.5-3 mm wide. Involucral bracts 20-35, outer ovate, inner gradually longer and oblong, innermost narrowly oblong with a spreading apical limb, up to 5.5 mm long, up to 1.5 mm wide, innermost dorsally gland-dotted, obtuse-rounded. Receptacle convex, paleate; paleae 4.5-6 mm long, dorsally gland-dotted, acute. Ray florets 4-7, tube 2.2-2.8 mm long, glandular; lamina elliptic, 2.8-3.7 x 0.7-1 mm, 4-veined. Disc florets 10-18, perfect; corolla 3.8-4.8 x 0.6-0.8 mm. Cypselas almost terete, narrowly oblong, 1.8-2.5 x 0.3-0.5 mm, � glandular. Pappus crownlike, of � connate scales, up to 1 mm long.

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Flowering time

October to December.

Distribution

On the summit of Sneeuwkop and Rooiberg (Pramkop), in the Kamiesberg.
Known from fewer than 10 specimens.

Habitat

In rock crevices in the Kamiesberg mountains.

Notes

This is a distinct species with cushion-like habit and small, slender capitula, solitary or paired in cymes. Similar to O. sedifolia but differ in involucre and shape of leaves.

References

ANDERBERG, A.A. & BREMER, K. 1991. Parsimony analysis and cladistic reclassification of the Relhania generic group (Asteraceae - Gnaphalieae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 78: 1061-1072.
BREMER, K. 1976. The genus Relhania (Compositae). Opera Botanica 40.
GLEN, H.F. 2004. SAPPI, What's in a Name? The Meanings of the Botanical Names of Trees. Jacana.
GOLDBLATT, P. & MANNING, J.C. 2000. Cape Plants. A conspectus of the Cape flora of South Africa. Strelitzia 9. SANBI.
HARVEY. 1865. Compositae in: W.H. Harvey & O.W. Sonder. Flora Capensis 3 (ed. 1). Hodges & Smith, Dublin.
KESTING, D. & CLARKE, H. 2008. Botanical names, what they mean. Wild Flowers of the Cape Peninsula, 3rd revised edition. Friends of Silvermine.
PHILLIPS.1940. The Flowering Plants of South Africa 20: t. 786
SMITH, C. A. 1927. Four interesting species of Compositae. Bothalia 2: 360-365.

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