''Leucospermum innovans'' is an upright evergreen shrub with many pustules growing on the lower branches, wedge-shaped leaves, and oval, flower heads that are yellow on the outside, but with scarlet stripes on the inside of the perianth claws, with long styles sticking far beyond the perianths, jointly giving the impression of a pincushion. It is called Pondoland pincushion or Transkei pincushion in English. Flowers occur on and off between July and December, but flowering peaks in September and October.

Description

''Leucospermum innovans'' Is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

upright, rounded shrub of up to in diameter. The main stems grow from a woody

rootstock A rootstock is part of a plant, often an underground part, from which new above-ground growth can be produced. It could also be described as a stem with a well developed root system, to which a bud from another plant is grafted. It can refer to ...

of up to thick. The flowering branches are very straight, upright and slender, ½ cm (0.2 in) thick, with a felty appearance due to fine crisped hairs, interspersed with many long straight hairs. The leaves are inverted egg-shaped to wedge-shaped or very broadly wedge-shaped, long and broad, narrowing at the foot Into a stalk, the tip rounded or blunt often deeply incised and ending in five to ten bony teeth, hairless, but felty near the stalk. The flower heads are globe-shaped, across, seated or with a stalk of up to 1½ cm (0.6 in) long. The

common base In electronics, a common-base (also known as grounded-base) electronic amplifier, amplifier is one of three basic single-stage bipolar junction transistor (BJT) amplifier topologies, typically used as a current buffer or voltage amplifier. In t ...

of the flowers in the same head is cylinder-shaped, about long and wide. The

bracts In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also loo ...

subtending the head are broadly oval with a pointy tip 1 cm long and 8 mm wide, cartilaginous in consistency, the outer surface densely felty, and distinctly grey near the tip. The

subtending the individual flower is oval with a pointy tip, envelopping the flower at the foot, very densely woolly near the base and felty higher up, softly cartilaginous in consistency and about long and wide. The lower part of the

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower. It is a structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepal ...

called tube, that remains merged when the flower is open, is about long, somewhat compressed sideways, narrow near the foot at and bulging higher up with a width of about ½ cm (0.2 in), hairless at its foot and slightly felty higher up. The middle part (or

claws A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or tars ...

) is densely felty and also has straight long hairs on the outer surface, all strongly curled back after the flower opens. The upper part (or limbs), which enclosed the pollen presenter in the bud, are very narrowly ellipse-shaped, each about 5 mm long and 1½ mm wide, felty with in addition long straight hairs. The limb facing the edge of the head is less densely felty than the other three. From the centre of the perianth emerges a slender tapering,

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

of about long, slightly arching toward the centre of the head. The thickened part at the tip of the style called

pollen presenter A pollen-presenter is an area on the tip of the Stigma_(botany)#Style, style in flowers of plants of the family Proteaceae on which the Stamen#Morphology_and_terminology, anthers release their pollen prior to anthesis. To ensure pollination, the st ...

is narrowly cone-shaped with a pointy tip, about long and 1 mm wide long, with the groove that functions as the stigma across the very tip.

Differences with related species

''L. innovans'' differs from its close relative ''L. cuneiforme'' because it has very broadly wedge-shaped to inverted egg-shaped leaves, 3–5 cm wide, deeply incised with five to ten teeth near the tip, and the lower, merged part of the

, called tube, is somewhat compressed sideways, narrow near the foot but somewhat bulging higher up. ''L. cuneiforme'' on the other hand has narrow to broadly wedge-shaped leaves 0.6–3 cm wide, with three to ten teeth, and the perianth tube cylinder-shaped and slightly compressed sideways.

Taxonomy

As far as known, the Pondoland pincushion was first collected for science by a Mr. William Tyson in October 1885. This and later collected plants that are now considered to belong to the Pondoland pincushion were initially identified as ''L. attenuatum'' R.Br. (now '' Leucospermum cuneiforme''). In 1970,

John Patrick Rourke John Patrick Rourke FMLS (born 26 March 1942 in Cape Town) is a South African botanist, who worked at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden and became curator of the Compton Herbarium. He is a specialist in the flora of the Cape Floristic ...

decided the differences with ''L. cuneiforme'' are consistent, and he described it as a new species, calling it ''Leucospermum innovans''. ''Leucospermum innovans'' is assigned to the cylindric pincushions,

section Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

'' Crassicaudex''. The species name ''innovans'' is

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and means “novelty”.

Distribution, habitat and ecology

''L. innovans'' can only be found in the subtropical coastal belt between

Lusikisiki Lusikisiki is a town in the Ingquza Hill Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The name is onomatopoeic, derived from the rustling sound of reeds in the wind, named by the local Xhosa people. Lusikisiki is inland from a ...

(

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

province) and

Port Shepstone Port Shepstone is a large town situated on the mouth of the Mzimkhulu River, the largest river on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast of South Africa. It is located halfway between Hibberdene and Margate, KwaZulu-Natal, Margate and is positioned 120&nbs ...

(in

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

), where it grows mostly within about from the sea. The Pondoland pincushion appears in a vegetation type called Pondoland Coastal Plateau Sourveld, always on or near outcrops of

Table Mountain Sandstone Table Mountain Sandstone (TMS), formally known by its geological name the Peninsula Formation Sandstone, is a group of rock formations within the Cape Supergroup sequence. While the term "Table Mountain Sandstone" remains widely used, it is n ...

. Here, the annual precipitation is fairly high at , mostly during the summer. The species is a very resistant to fire, and new shoots appear quickly from the underground rootstock after the above grond parts have been burnt off. Because fires occur with intervals of only a few years, the plants mostly remain lower than , but if protected may reach 1 m. The Pondoland pincushion is pollinated by birds. The fruits are ripe about two months after flowering and fall to the ground. Here, these are collected by ants who carry them to their underground nests.

Conservation

The Pondoland pincushion is considered an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

due to a very fragmented and small area of , and a continuing decline caused by extending agriculture,

afforestation Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an area where there was no recent tree cover. There are three types of afforestation: natural Regeneration (biology), regeneration, agroforestry and Tree plantation, tree plan ...

and too high frequency

fires Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion reaction when the fuel ...

References

External links

several photos
{{Taxonbar, from=Q18078390 Endemic flora of South Africa cuneiforme Plants described in 1970 Flora of the Cape Provinces Flora of KwaZulu-Natal