Alchemilla ellenbeckii subsp. nyikensis De Wild. R. A. Grah. [family ROSACEAE]

Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Zambesiaca
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
FZ, Vol 4, Part 0, page 7, (1978) Author: E. J. Mendes
Names
Alchemilla ellenbeckii subsp. nyikensis De Wild. R. A. Grah. [family ROSACEAE], in Kew Bull. 12: 406 (1958).—Piovano in Boll. Soc. Bot. Ital., Sér. 2, 72: 664 (1967). TAB. 8. Type: Malawi, Nyika Plateau, xi.1903, Henderson s.n. (BM, holotype).
Alchemilla nyikensis De Wild. [family ROSACEAE], in Bull. Jard. Bot. Brux. 7: 376 (1921).—Hauman & Balle in Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr. 24: 340, 346, fig. 14 (1934).—Brenan in Mem. N.Y. Bot. Gard. 8: 431 (1954). Type as above.
Information
Creeping and scrambling perennial herb without basal rosette. Stems slender, green, becoming brownish-green to red, densely pilose to glabrous. Leaves petiolate, 1–1·5(2·0) x 1·2–2·5(3·0) cm., reniform to circular-reniform in outline, (3)5-lobed, densely hairy to glabrous, paler on inferior surface; lobes quite shallow, usually not as deep as 1/2 radius of lamina; central lobe with 9–11 shallow teeth, the latter usually with revolute margins; basal sinus wide, sometimes almost 180·; petioles 0·5–1·2(1·8) cm. Inflorescences 4–10 cm. long, slender, little-branched, hairy; flowers 1–3 together in cymose clusters. Calyx glabrous; epicalyx-lobes 0·5–0·7 mm. long; calyx-lobes 0·7–0·8(1·0) mm. long, exceeding epicalyx-lobes. Achenes usually solitary.
Habitat
Marshy upland grassland, bogs and Widdringtonia forest
Altitude range
alt. 1950–2300 m.
2300
1950
Distribution
Malawi N Nyika Plateau, fl. 13.viii.1946, Brass 17201 (K; SRGH); Vipya Mts., Rumpi stream, Nkalapia, fl. v.1954, Chapman 285 (BM).Zambia E Lundazi Distr., Nyika Plateau, fl. 24.xii.1962, Fanshawe 7218 (K; SRGH); Nyika Plateau, fl. 3.i.1959, Richards 10414 (EA; K; LISC).
Distribution (external)
Tanzania
Notes
Note: A single gathering from Zambia, E: Nyika Plateau, Fanshawe 7234 (K; SRGH) is too poor to be properly described, but it may represent a hybrid between A. kiwuensis and A. ellenbeckii subsp. nyikensis: it has the general habit and peculiar stem-colour of the latter, while both the flower type and superior leaf-surface indumentum are characteristic of the former. Both these taxa occur on the Nyika Plateau.
Alchemilla ellenbeckii subsp. nyikensis De Wild. R. A. Grah. [family ROSACEAE]
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