Names and synonyms

Relhania calycina (L.f.) L'Herit. ssp. calycina
=Osmites calycina L.f.
=Lapeirousia calycina (L.f.) Thunberg
=Relhania "calicina" (L.f.) "Poir."
=Lapeyrousia Thunbergii Cass. (excl. descr. = Peyrousea umbellata (L.f.) Fourc); Cassini
=Peyrousea calycina (L.f.) DC. (excl. descr. = Peyrousea umbellata (L.f.) Fourc)
=Relhania quinquenervis Thunberg
=Relhania lateriflora sensu Link (non L'Herit. 1789 p. 23 = Relhania sessiliflora (L.f.) Thunb.)
=Eclopes trinervis auct. (excl. Relhania trinervis Thunb. = Relhania pungens L'Herit. ssp. trinervis (Thunb.) Bremer)
=Eclopes apiculata DC.
=Oedera apiculata E. Mey. ex DC.
=Relhania apiculata (DC.) Harvey
=Eclopes apiculata DC. var. �. pubescens DC.
=Relhania rigida Hoffmann & Muschler

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.
calycinus: kalux = case of bud, husk, calyx-like

Diagnostic characters

Leaves hairy
Involucral bracts papery and brown

Description

Plant sparsely branched, usually long and slender, often 0.4- 1 m tall. Stems tomentose, leafy, becoming glabrous and nude and marked with leaf-scars. Leaves � straight, narrowly elliptic-oblong, 8-22 x 1-6 mm, quite distinctly 3-5-nerved, densely pilose-tomentose, acute, sometimes pungent. Capitula solitary, sessile, terminal. Involucre widely bell-shaped, 8-20 mm wide. Involucral bracts 30-75, outer ovate, inner gradually longer with a spreading, brownish apical limb. Receptacle flat-convex, paleate. Paleae canaliculate and often winged, 7-11.5 x 0.3-0.8 mm, acute-acuminate, persistent. Ray florets 15-40. tube somewhat triquetrous, 3-5 mm long, with subulate-triangular hairs, lamina narrowly elliptic, 8.5-14 x 1.6-2.9 mm, 4- or occasionally 5-6-veined. Disc florets 50-250, perfect. Pappus crownlike, of � connate scales, up to 2 mm long. Cypselas flat with inner edge often winged, elliptic-oblong, 2.2-3.5 x 0.6-1.3 mm wide, glabrous or pilose mainly on inner edge and with occasional scattered hairs.

Flowering time

Mainly from October to January.

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Distribution

R. calycina extends all the way from Cederberg to the Eastern Cape. Ssp. calycina grows on lower slopes in stony or sometimes clayey soil.
Known form more than 70 specimens.

Habitat

Found sporadically in loamy or sandy soils.

Notes

R. calycina extends over a considerable area and varies along its distribution range. The differences between the three subspecies are not clear-cut.

Ssp. calycina, which occurs mainly from Oudtshoorn through George and Knysna, is lower and more branched and always has a loose, but often rather dense indumentum dorsally and marginally on the leaves. The capitula are often wide and many-flowered.

Key to the subspecies
1a. Leaves dorsally and marginally pilose-tomentose with persistent hairs ............................... 2
1b. Leaves quite glabrous (occasionally very laxly pilose with deciduous hairs) ...... ssp. apiculata
2a. Leaves � straight, narrowly elliptic-oblong-elliptic-obovate................................ ssp. calycina
2b. Leaves slightly curved backwards, lanceolate ................................................... ssp. lanceolata

References

BREMER, K. 1976. The genus Relhania (Compositae). Opera Botanica 40.
KESTING, D. & CLARKE, H. 2008. Botanical names, what they mean. Wild Flowers of the Cape Peninsula, 3rd revised edition. Friends of Silvermine.
VLOK, J. & SCHUTTE-VLOK, A L. 2010. Plants of the Klein Karoo. Umdaus Press