Cliffortia verrucosa

PLANTAE / PHANEROGAMAE / ANTHOPHYTA / ROSALES / ROSACEAE / ROSOIDEAE / SANGUISORBEAE / CLIFFORTIA / CLIFFORTIA / VERRUCOSA

Cliffortia verrucosa Weim.

LC Indigenous Endemic

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Morphological description

Medium erect shrub, up to 1.5 m high; densely divaricately branched, forming brachyblasts. Young stems 0.7-1.1 mm wide, tinged reddish, hairy; stem hairs adpressed upwards, 0.2-0.8 mm long. Leaves unifoliolate; elliptic to ovate, 4.3-7.8 x 1.7-3.6 mm; apex sharply acuminate to pungent, 0.5-0.6 mm long; margins markedly turned upwards to rounded, smooth and entire or commonly with up to 2 straight teeth, 0.7-1.6 mm long, 3-7-veined from base, cartilaginous, 0.2-0.4 mm thick, midrib prominent beneath, curved downwards and away from the stem, glabrous above, hairy beneath but becoming glabrous, hairs up to 0.4 mm long; sheath 0.7-1.4 mm long, abaxially glabrous, adaxially with scattered adpressed hairs; stipules 0.4-1.0 mm long, free, margins ciliate; petiole absent. Flowers solitary in axils of undifferentiated leaves, but sometimes clustered in the brachyblasts; bracteoles hairy; sepals 3, hairy on outside. Male flower unknown. Female flowers with bracteoles 3.2-3.8 mm long, longer than immature receptacle; sepals ovate, 2.4-3.0 x 0.9-1.1 mm, recurved; carpel 1; stigma 3.2-5.4 mm long, pinkish white, feathery, prominent above leaves; immature receptacle 2.0-2.6 x 0.8-1.2 mm, glabrous, clearly ribbed. Achene ellipsoid, 2.5-3.1 x 1.2-1.3 mm, medium to dark brown, glabrous; indistinctly ribbed with tubercles present. From: Whitehouse, CM. 2021. A monograph on the genus Cliffortia. Strelitzia 43: 1-477. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. [CC BY]

Monoecious or dioecious shrublet. Leaves simple, entire to irregularly dentate, hairy, 4-8 x 2-4 mm. Flowers: male: unknown; female: receptacle ± 4 mm long, oblong, verrucose. From: Fellingham, AC. 2012. Rosaceae: Cliffortia L. In: J Manning & P Goldblatt (eds), Plants of the Greater Cape Floristic Region 1: The Core Cape flora. Strelitzia 29: 692-700. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. [CC BY]

Fruticulus; rami et ramuli juniores sat dense et breviter canescenti-pilosi; ramuli abbreviati 2-10 mm longi dense foliate; folia simplicia; vagina amplectens 0.5-1 mm longa glabra vel brevissime ciliata; stipulae anguste triangulares 0.6-1 mm longae acutae; lamina 4-8 mm longa 2-4 mm lata oblonga-obovata integra vel 2-3-lobato-dentata acuminata superne glabra subtus breviter albo-pilosula et nervis modice prominentia; flores [female] sessiles; bracteolae 2-2.5 mm longae lanceolatae versus apicem sat dense pilosae; receptaculum maturum ca. 4 mm longum 1.2-1.5 mm crassum oblongum verrucosum; sepala 3, 1.5-1.8 mm longa lanceolata extus brevissime albo-pilosula; stylus singularis 4-5 mm longus sat dense ramosus purpureus. From: Weimarck, AH. 1959. Four new Cliffortia species. Bot. Not. 112(1): 73-79. [All rights reserved]

Diagnostic description

Probably of hybrid origin between Cliffortia ruscifolia and C. tuberculata, which has subsequently introgressed back into C. ruscifolia. Slightly tuberculate achenes are present in most Swartberg populations of C. ruscifolia, which indicates that introgression is continuing to occur. Cliffortia verrucosa can be distinguished from C. ruscifolia by the tuberculate achenes and the generally shorter and frequently toothed leaves. From: Whitehouse, CM. 2021. A monograph on the genus Cliffortia. Strelitzia 43: 1-477. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. [CC BY]

Cliffortia verrucosa is a member of sect. Multinerviae and comes morphologically close to C. ruscifolia. As well as in this species the leaf-blades in verrucosa are pilous on the underside but the hairs are shorter than in C. ruscifolia. The leaf-blades are smaller than in any known form of C. ruscifolia, broader in proportion to the length, and many of them are more or less deeply lobed thus exhibiting a certain similarity to small-leafed forms of C. ilicifolia. C. verrucosa deviates from all known species of the section by its receptacles which are provided with small verrucae, conformable to those in C. tuberculata (sect. Costatae). From: Weimarck, AH. 1959. Four new Cliffortia species. Bot. Not. 112(1): 73-79. [All rights reserved]

Habitat

Well-drained sandy soils and rocky outcrops derived from the Witteberg Series in full sun. From: Whitehouse, CM. 2021. A monograph on the genus Cliffortia. Strelitzia 43: 1-477. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. [CC BY]

High sandstone slopes. From: Fellingham, AC. 2012. Rosaceae: Cliffortia L. In: J Manning & P Goldblatt (eds), Plants of the Greater Cape Floristic Region 1: The Core Cape flora. Strelitzia 29: 692-700. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. [CC BY]

Distribution

Apparently restricted to the northern slopes of the Groot Swartberg. From: Whitehouse, CM. 2021. A monograph on the genus Cliffortia. Strelitzia 43: 1-477. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. [CC BY]

Swartberg. From: Fellingham, AC. 2012. Rosaceae: Cliffortia L. In: J Manning & P Goldblatt (eds), Plants of the Greater Cape Floristic Region 1: The Core Cape flora. Strelitzia 29: 692-700. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. [CC BY]

Flowering time

September to October

Altitude

200 to 1400 m

Occurrence records map

This map contains point-based occurrences at different locations

iNaturalist: BODATSA: Data partners records:

Residence status

Occurrence in the Flora of Southern Africa (FSA) countries and South African provinces. Residence status indicates if a taxon is indigenous, endemic, naturalised or invasive in a specific region. This data is based on specimen records and literature

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