''Heterolepis'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the sunflower family.Per Ola Karis. 2007. "Arctotideae" pages 200-207. In: Klaus Kubitzki (series editor); Joachim W. Kadereit and Charles Jeffrey (volume editors). ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' volume VIII. Springer-Verlag: Berlin; Heidelberg, Germany. It has threeDavid J. Mabberley. 2008. ''Mabberley's Plant-Book'' third edition (2008). Cambridge University Press: UK. or four

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, all

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

Province in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. ''Heterolepis'' species are

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

lets, typically sprawling and about 30 cm high with moderately large yellow flowers. The flowerheads are solitary with glandular peduncles, the surrounding green

bract 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 lo ...

s having membranous margins, especially in the inner rows. The ray florets are female, with a thread-like lobe opposite the ray. The disk

floret This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary ...

s are bisexual. The seeds (properly speaking the

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

s) are flask-shaped, silky, with a pappus of two unequal rows of bristly, barbed scales. The leaves are

alternate Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * Alternative comics, or independent comics are an alternative to mainstream superh ...

, typically 15–30 mm long, narrow or needle-like, sharply pointed, thick, and quite stiff, with the margins rolled under, woolly beneath. The

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 ...

is woody, and branches

cobweb A spider web, spiderweb, spider's web, or cobweb (from the archaic word '' coppe'', meaning 'spider') is a structure created by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets, generally meant to catch its prey. Spider w ...

by. The plants occur mainly on rocky sandstone slopes in the mountains of the Western Cape in South Africa. The

name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...

''Heterolepis'' is derived from two

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

words, ''heteros'' "different, dissimilar" and "a scale".Umberto Quattrocchi. 2000. ''CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names'' volume II. CRC Press: Boca Raton; New York; Washington,DC;, USA. London, UK. (vol. II). (see ''External links'' below). This name was created in 1820 by

Alexandre de Cassini Viscount Alexandre Henri Gabriel (vicomte) de Cassini (9 May 1781 – 23 April 1832) was a French botanist and naturalist, who specialised in the sunflower family (Asteraceae) (then known as family Compositae). He was the youngest of five childre ...

''Heterolepis'' at the International Plant Names Index. (see ''External links'' below).Alexandre H.G. de Cassini. 1820. ''Bulletin des Sciences, par la Société Philomatique de Paris'' 1820:26. for a plant that had been named ''Arnica inuloides'' ''Arnica'' At: International Plant Names Index. (see ''External links'' below). by

Martin Vahl Martin Henrichsen Vahl (10 October 1749 – 24 December 1804) was a Denmark-Norway, Danish-Norwegian botanist, herbalist and zoologist. Biography Martin Vahl was born in Bergen, Norway and attended Bergen Cathedral School. He studied botany at ...

in 1791.Martin Henrichsen Vahl. 1791. ''Symbolae Botanicae'' part 2:91. One year after transferring this species to ''Heterolepis'', Cassini changed the

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

, thus creating the superfluous

combination In mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set that has distinct members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations). For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a pear, there are ...

''Heterolepis decipiens'' in 1821.Alexandre H.G. de Cassini. 1821. ''Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles. Strasbourg''. edition 2. (F. Cuvier). 21:120. The relationships of ''Heterolepis'' to other genera in Asteraceae are not well understood. It is related to the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Arctotideae. Some authors have placed it within that tribe as a matter of convenience until more can be learned about it.Vicki A. Funk, Alfonso Susanna, Tod F. Stuessy, and Randall J. Bayer. 2009. ''Systematics, Evolution and Biogeography of the Compositae''. IAPT (International Association for Plant Taxonomy). (see ''External links'' below). File:Heterolepis aliena Rock daisy IMG 2033s.jpg, ''Heterolepis aliena'', flowerhead attended by pollinating beetles File:Heterolepis aliena Rock daisy IMG 2034s.jpg, ''Heterolepis aliena'', lateral aspect of flowerhead, showing protruding stamens and pistils

References

External links