Names and synonyms

Oedera imbricata Lam.
=Eroeda imbricata (Lam.) Levyns
=Eroeda intermedia (DC.) Levyns
=Oedera intermedia DC.
=Oedera latifolia Less.

Type

Drege, J.F. 'a', Groenekloof (HBG)

Derivation of names

Oedera = after George Christian Oeder (1728-1791), professor of Botany in Copenhagen, author of Flora Danica
imbricata = overlapping like tiles

Diagnostic characters

Flower head composed of individual capitula in secondary arrangement, up to 37 mm diam
Midrib of leaves and bracts prominent
Margins of leafy involucral bracts with regularly spaced stiff hairs, usually also on the leaves
Bracts mostly lanceolate (narrow or broad) with a distinct 'petiole'

Description

Shrub up to 0.3-0.5 m, stiffly erect or compact rounded, densely leafy. Leaves very variable, 14-17 x 5-8 mm, curled or straight, erect, spreading or recurved; narrow or very wide, generally smooth; hard, somewhat pungent and densely overlapping, broadly lanceolate to ovate, glabrous; margins with stiff prickly hairs. Involucral bracts in several rows, outer green and leaf-like; inner almost translucent. Capitula in a secondary head, up to 40 mm diameter, with only the outer ones having conspicuous ray florets, florets orange or deep yellow. Ray florets female. Disc florets bisexual. Pappus of scales.

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Flowering time

August to October (to November).

Distribution

Widespread along coastal and inland areas from Yzerfontein along the West Coast to Grahamstown.
Known from more than 80 specimens.

Habitat

Abundant but localised in dense vegetation, on rocky outcrops or dry mountain slopes in Renosterveld, Waboomveld and Protea Fynbos.

Notes

Can be mistaken for O. capensis, which has longer, spreading leaves with minutely toothed margins and sprouts after fire. Often growing on the same slopes as O. capensis, but usually associated with rocky outcrops, has broader more rounded leaves but an identical flower structure.
Ray florets of O. imbricata are more yellow than those of O. capensis in fresh specimens.

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.
BEAN, A. & JOHNS, A. 2005. Stellenbosch to Hermanus. South African Wild Flower Guide 5. 2nd Edition. Botanical Society of South Africa.
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.
MANNING. J. 2007. Field Guide to Fynbos. Struik Publishers.
TRINDER-SMITH, T. 2006. Wild Flowers of Table Mountain National Park. South African Wild Flower Guide 12. Botanical Society of South Africa.
VLOK, J. & SCHUTTE-VLOK, A L. 2010. Plants of the Klein Karoo. Umdaus Press

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