Names and synonyms

Relhania acerosa (DC.) Bremer
=Polychaetia acerosa DC.
=Nestlera acerosa (DC.) Harvey

Type

Drege, Witbergen, in the krantzes and at rocky places, 1525-1830 m (G-DC, G, P, S).

Common names

Boegoebossie, Perdeboegoe, 'mamenoana, masepa-a-lekhoaba, moholu-oa-lekhoaba, moholu-oa-pela, rapeisi.

Derivation of names

Relhania = after Irish-born Richard Relhan (1754-1823), botanist, plant collector, bryologist, lichenologist, one of the founders of the Linnean Society, rector in Lincolnshire and author of Flora Cantabile.
acerosa: acer- = needle-shaped and rigid

Diagnostic characters

Leaves very sticky, pungent, linear, pointing upwards
Leaves triangular, tightly inrolled, upper surface not visible
Capitula large, solitary
Involucral bract tips rounded
Lower branches bare, young branches very densely leafy

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Description

Well-branched dwarf shrublet, 0.25-0.5 m tall, often in colonies. Stems ascending-erect, glabrous, leafy, becoming nude and marked with leaf-scars. Leaves crowded towards ends of branches, 9-24  x 0.5-1.5  mm, gland-dotted, slightly sticky, loosely white-woolly, 3-5 veins below, pungent. Capitula solitary, sessile, terminal, ca. 20 mm wide, florets yellow. Involucre bell-shaped, 5-12 mm wide. Involucral bracts 40-85, light brown, outer ovate, inner gradually longer with a somewhat spreading apical limb, dorsally gland-dotted. Receptacle flat, epaleate. Ray florets 12-25, tube 3.2-5 mm long, glandular, lamina narrowly elliptic, 4.5-11 x 1.2-2.5 mm, 4-veined. Disc florets 30-60, perfect. Pappus crownlike, of � connate scales, up to 1.8 mm long. Cypselas linear, 4-6 x 0.4-0.6 mm, glabrous or occasionally with scattered hairs.

Flowering time

Mainly from (July) August to November (to December).

Distribution

On sandstone rocks in and around Lesotho.
Known from more than 40 specimens.

Habitat

Edge of sandstone outcrop, mountainous grassveld, shallow soil on rock slabs, Cave Sandstone, mountain slope, high altitudes, slopes or top of mountain, on rock sheets, rocky slopes, up to 3000 m.

Notes

This species is a low shrub characterized by needle-shaped, pungent, closely set leaves.

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References

BREMER, K. 1976. The genus Relhania (Compositae). Opera Botanica 40.
HILLIARD, O.M. 1977. Compositae in Natal. University of Natal Press.
KESTING, D. & CLARKE, H. 2008. Botanical names, what they mean. Wild Flowers of the Cape Peninsula, 3rd revised edition. Friends of Silvermine.
POOLEY, E. 2003. Mountain Flowers. A Field guide to the Flora of the Drakensberg and Lesotho. The Flora Publications Trust.