Zingela (Asparagaceae, Scilloideae), a distinct new urgineoid genus from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract

In the course of resolving the identity of plants usually named ‘Drimia indica’ from KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, molecular and morphological data revealed the identity of more than one taxon carrying this name. Our studies support the establishment of a new urgineoid genus, Zingela gen. nov., to accommodate a species (Z. pooleyorum) collected and illustrated some 50 years ago, but never validly published. We here provide data on its morphology, ecology, and distribution.

New combinations in the tribe Urgineeae (Asparagaceae subfam. Scilloideae) with comments on contrasting taxonomic treatments

“…3 in Martínez-Azorín et al 2018b) show that all studied samples of Urgineoideae from that region form a well-supported clade which we accept as Indurgia. Moreover, samples from Africa usually identified as "Drimia indica" belong instead to Vera-duthiea Speta (2016: 154) or Zingela Crouch et al (2018: 36), as shown by Crouch et al (2018) and by Martínez-Azorín et al (2018c). Therefore, we here combine Urginea raogibikei Hemadri (2006a: 386) in Indurgia, a species described from the Nellore district in India and fitting the morphology of that genus.…”

“…Both taxa are quite distinct morphologically and ecologically as well as from the molecular-phylogenetic point of view (M. Martínez-Azorín and collaborators, in preparation). Crouch et al (2018) discussed the history of their treatment in herbaria and literature.…”

“…Manning & Goldblatt (2018) recently published a revision of Drimia sensu latissimo in southern Africa, where they persist in proposing a synthetic approach, with only two genera accepted for the whole Urgineoideae: Bowiea, monotypic in their sense, and Drimia with 70 species, eight of which are new. In this concept, Drimia is extremely broad morphologically, as it is the result of synonymising several traditionally accepted genera such as Litanthus, Rhadamanthus, Rhodocodon Baker (1880: 280), Schizobasis, Tenicroa, Thuranthos, and Urginea Steinheil (1834: 321), as well as others recognised by Speta (1998bSpeta ( , 2001, Martínez-Azorín et al (2013, 2018a, and Crouch et al (2018), all of which are characterised by distinct syndromes of morphological characters. Manning & Goldblatt (2018) opted for a counter-intuitive concept of Drimia, particularly difficult to understand based on its morphological variability, especially in relation to flower morphology.…”

<p><strong>A taxonomic revision of<em> Geschollia </em>(Asparagaceae, Urgineeae)—from a monotypic genus towards its diversification, including the description of five new species</strong></p>

“…In recent decades subfamily Urgineoideae has been especially controversial regarding the generic circumscription (Speta 1998a, 2001, Pfosser & Speta 2001, Manning et al 2004, Pfosser et al 2012, Martínez-Azorín et al 2013a, 2013b, 2016, 2017, 2018a, 2018b, 2019a, 2019b, Pinter et al 2013, Crouch & Martínez-Azorín 2015, Crouch et al 2018, Manning & Goldblatt 2018. Indeed, on the one hand, Manning et al (2004) presented a synthetic approach, accommodating the enormous variation in floral, fruit, seed and vegetative morphologies, and synonymizing several traditionally accepted genera with distinct morphological syndromes.…”

Vera-duthiea zebrina (Asparagaceae, Scilloideae), a new species from eastern South Africa, and a first genus record for southern Africa

“…Nonetheless, Pooley (1978) recognised that her Ndumo collections represented two taxa that differed in several respects, most notably in leaf and bulb form, in the number, size and orientation of flowers, in floral scent and opening times, and in habitat preferences. As detailed by Crouch et al (2018), Pooley 661 (NU) represents a distinct new genus described as Zingela pooleyorum Crouch et al (2018: 36). The second collection Pooley 127 (NU) belongs to Vera-duthiea based on its morphology as here detailed, and its phylogenetic relationships (M. Martínez-Azorín and collaborators, in preparation).…”