Lagenophora schmidiae

Detailed description

Perennial rhizomatous herb. Roots fibrous and wiry, deeply descending, 0.5–1 mm diameter; rhizomes spreading through soil, up to 8 cm long. Stems erect and elongated with leaves loosely attached. Leaves 4–8 per stem, alternate along stem; petioles slender (with winged bases), 10–17 × 0.4–0.6 mm; lamina obovate, oblanceolate or elliptical, 8–14 × 4–6 mm, base attenuate, apex obtuse often with midrib extending as a minute apiculus 0.1–0.2 mm long; leaf margins denticulate, occasionally entire or with 4–6 minute teeth, each tooth 0.2–0.4 mm long; adaxial surface bright green, abaxial surface lighter green, both surfaces glabrescent or finely, sparingly hairy, sericeous especially on the margins, hairs c. 0.1 mm long, translucent, patent; lateral veins obscure on dried material on both surfaces. Scapes terete, 1 per tuft, finely channelled, green with base sometimes tinged maroon, up to 140 mm long, 0.4–0.6 mm wide at anthesis, slightly longer at fruiting stage, glabrous in lower ⅓–⅔ otherwise finely hairy near or below capitulum; hairs c. 0.1 mm long, appressed, antrorse; bracts 1–2–(3), pale green, 1–(1.5) mm long, 0.2–0.4 mm wide, narrowly lanceolate, to deltoid, glabrous or occasionally furnished with a few minute, white, appressed, antrorse hairs. Capitula 2.5–3.5 mm long, 4–7 mm diameter; involucral bracts 31–48–(58) in 4–5 rows, the outer 2(–3) rows initially widely and unevenly spaced, the uppermost row ± forming an open, widely-spaced whorl, bracts deltoid, 1–1.3 × 0.25–0.4 mm, glabrous, greenish, with stout midrib, erect or weakly spreading with upper ⅓ partially recurved, margins entire, upper ⅓ finely dentate, teeth greenish or maroon/purple, up to 6 either side, not paired, uneven and unequally spaced; the bracts of inner 2–(3) series, oblong, apex subacute to obtuse, with prominent midrib, ±glabrous except for margins; margins ciliate in distal third, cilia purple, with globular apices, 1.9–2.5 × 0.5–0.6 mm. Receptacle convex, 0.8–1.5 mm diameter and 0.4–0.5 mm high. Ray florets 30–50 in 2–(3) rows; tube 0.48–0.6 × 0.2–0.25 mm, ± glandular hairy; style branches initially white, maturing cream with maroon-tinged apices, 0.5–0.8 mm long; ligules 1.8–2.0 × 0.3–0.4 mm with 1–(3) longitudinal obscure veins, tightly coiled, white, often tinged mauve, apex obtuse, or notched. Disc florets 16–20–(22), corolla tubular, 1–1.5 mm long, cream, outer surface sparsely furnished with short glandular hairs, lobes 5, deltate, 0.4–0.5 × 0.2–0.4 mm, apices maroon or pink; stamens 5, 0.8–1 mm long (anthers c. 0.4 mm long, filament c. 0.3 mm long); style branches, white, apices tinged maroon, 0.4–0.5 mm long; ovary sterile, 0.8–1.4 mm long. Cypselas narrowly obovate-elliptic to obovate, compressed, 1.7–1.9 × 0.6–0.7 mm excluding beak; apex rounded to beak; base cuneate; margins with an obtuse rib; surface orange-brown, red-brown to purple-brown at maturity, with a light yellow margin, glabrous throughout; glands densely and evenly scattered along both dorsal and ventral margins, denser on beak and toward basal areas of both faces; beak (0.5–)0.6–1.1 mm long, densely covered with glands, with a white annular collar at its apex, c. 0.2 mm diameter.