Systematics of the southern African genus Ixia (Iridaceae). 2. The filiform-leaved /. capillaris complex

Field study and associated examination of herbarium specimens of the filiform-leaved species of section Morphixia of the South African genus Ixia L. have resulted in an increase in the number of species with this derived leaf type. Ixia capillaris and I. pauciflora have until now been the only species with such leaves and they have not been regarded as immediately related in past accounts of the genus. The two foliage leaves, typically less than 2 mm w ide, with a leathery to succulent texture, and lacking a raised central vein or margins, are specialized in the genus. Associated finely fibrous corm tunics, spikes of 1-3 flowers, and when present, short, thread-like lateral branches, usually bearing 1 or 2 flowers, provide supporting evidence that the group is monophyletic. I. capillaris as interpreted until now. comprises four species, three of them new and described here, and the large-flow ered I. pauciflora includes two species, one of these described here. While I. capillaris has a branched stem, radially symmetric flowers with a penanth tube (4—)5—7(—8) mm long, tepals 11-15 mm long and thus substantially exceeding the tube, filaments typically exserted 1-2 mm. and anthers (3—)4—5 mm long. I. exiliflora has a tube 8-10 mm long and ± as long as the tepals, included filaments, and anthers 3.5—4.0 mm long. The new I. dieramoides also has included filaments but a perianth tube 13—18(—22) mm long and tepals 11-18 mm long. A third new species. I. reclinata has large flowers with a tube 13-15 mm long, tepals 16-21 mm long, and unilateral, decimate stamens w ith the filaments exserted 8-10 mm. and anthers 4-5 mm long. Typical I. pauciflora has flowers with unilateral stamens and filaments exserted 2-6 mm from the flower and anthers prominently displayed, but specimens until now included in that species w ith short, included filaments 3-5 mm long and anthers half included in the tube, are here regarded as I. dieramoides. The I. capillaris group as treated here, now includes five species.


INTRODUCTION
In a continuation of our studies of the systematics of Ixia, a genus of the winter rainfall zone of southern Africa and largely restricted to the Greater Cape floral region, we re-examine the taxonomy of I. capillaris [sub genus Morphixia sensu Goldblatt & Manning (1999), thus including Lewis's sections Morphixia and Hyalis] and allied species that share only two foliage leaves with distinctive narrow, leathery blades less than 2 mm wide, without a visible main vein, and with rounded, unthick ened margins when fresh. We refer to the group for con venience as the I. capillaris complex, for the first and most widespread species with such leaves to be named. As revised by Lewis (1962), Ixia included 44 spe cies, and since the publication of her account, a further 19 species have been added to the genus, one reduced to synonymy (Goldblatt & Manning 2008). With three more here as a result of our reappraisal of the I. capil laris complex, the current total in the genus is 66 spe cies, of which 39 fall in subgenus Morphixia.
Plants assigned in herbaria to Ixia capillaris and I. pauciflora, which we consider to be closely related, share distinctive, derived leaf blades, and in addition, comparatively fine, netted corm tunics. Lateral branches, when present, are short, thin and wiry, and bear one or two, rarely three flowers. The leaf morphology, corm tunics and branching pattern all appear derived and we provisionally consider plants with these features to comprise a single lineage. The taxonomy of the group, however, is in need of revision: plant specimens cur rently placed under I. capillaris and I. pauciflora in her baria seem on close examination to be more diverse than their respective circumscriptions. Plants with a perianth tube 5-7 mm long, filaments exserted 1-2 mm from the tube, anthers 4-5 mm long, and short style branches 1.0-1.8 mm long, match the type of /. capillaris accord ing to Lewis's (1962) account of Ixia, which comprises the only modem monographic revision of Ixia [M.P. de Vos's (1999) account of Ixia for Flora o f southern Africa follows Lewis's taxonomy exactly for the filiform leaved species]. These plants occur widely across the Cape floral region (sensu Goldblatt & Manning 2000;Manning et al. 2002), usually on clay and loamy soils. Plants with the vegetative features described above but relatively small flowers with a funnel-shaped perianth tube, have until now been referred to I. capillaris by default. Our examination of floral variation in specimens that have accumulated in herbaria since Lewis's account of Ixia. however, shows that multiple undescribed spe cies have now been assigned to I. capillaris.
O f the three sets of populations that stand out as diverging significantly from the above description, the first extends from Worcester eastward to Touws River, in the interior centre of the range of Ixia capillaris. These plants have a penanth tube 8-10 mm long, filaments included in the tube, and anthers 3^4 mm long, with the bases usually also included in the tube. Well-grown specimens stand out in having several 1-3-flowered lat eral branches. A second set of populations includes tall plants from the Bonteberg and Voetpadsberg north and east of Touws River and locally in the Little Karoo, that have a perianth tube 13-17 mm long, filaments reach ing the mouth of the tube, and 1 or 2 branchlets mostly with a single flower each. Lastly, plants from the Caledon District with larger flowers, a tube 13-15 mm long, uni lateral stamens with filaments exserted 8-10 mm from the tube, and a style that divides below the level of the anthers into branches 4-5 mm long, appear intermediate between I. capillaris and I. pauciflora. Notably, none of the plants mentioned above has the chestnut brown cataphylls that are typical of both I. capillaris and I. pauci flora.
Ixia pauciflora has seemed fairly uniform in morphol ogy but examination of all specimens available in south ern African herbaria shows that the species comprises two sets of populations, the typical one with filaments 12-13 mm long, exserted 2-6 mm, and anthers (4-)5-6 mm long, and a second series with short filaments 2.5-5.0 mm long included in the tube, and short anthers 2.5-3.3 mm long, also partly included. These latter plants have a coherent range in the southern Cedarberg and although they occur within the range of /. pauciflora, we believe they represent a western series of populations of the plants mentioned above from the Bonteberg and Voetpadsberg.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Using standard methods of taxonomic investigation, we examined the holdings of Ixia in herbaria with signifi cant southern African collections, BOL, K, MO, NBG, PRE, and SAM (acronyms following Holmgren et al. 1990). We then assembled sets of measurements for taxonomically important features from well-preserved speci mens, bearing in mind that floral features may shrink up to 20% of their original size, depending on the care with which specimens are prepared. We did not use Lewis's (1962) or De Vos's (1999) measures for any taxa because we apply some names in different ways. Leaf sections were made by hand from fresh material and stained with basic fuchsin.
Our herbarium studies were accompanied by field investigation throughout the geographic range of the Ixia capillaris complex to determine variation within popula tions and their ecology, especially soil, aspect, and alti tudinal range.

RESULTS
Examination o f living plants and anatomical sec tions of fresh leaves, confirmed the unique leaves of the Ixia capillaris complex, also present in I. pauciflora. Comparison of living and dried leaves revealed addi tional leaf details. The fresh leaf blades have a leathery to almost succulent texture and neither the central vein nor the margins are visible as raised portions of the sur face. When dry, however, the leaf tissue surrounding the central vein shrinks to a greater degree than the vascu lature and the margins. The blade can then be identified to have one main vein or pseudomidrib, now apparently raised above the surface. In addition, the main vein is always displaced toward the abaxial margin. The blade is thus divided into two unequal parts with the abaxial portion about half as wide as the adaxial portion. The blades sometimes have, in addition, one or a pair of secondary veins. Anatomically, the secondary bundles are surrounded by complete sclerenchymatous bundle sheaths and opposing bundles remain distinct ( Figure   1C), in contrast to species with thin-textured blades in which opposing secondary bundles often merge at their xylem poles (compare also De Vos 1999: fig. 3i, fig. 7c). Species with such leaf blades, the /. capillaris complex, consistently have two foliage leaves with free blades, whereas a third leaf sheaths the stem for most or all of its length. The group is provisionally assumed to be monophyletic on the basis of the derived leaf morphology, branching pattern and finely fibrous corm tunics, which are also specialized in the genus.
Field studies conducted in August and September of 2006 and 2007 confirmed our preliminary hypotheses that Ixia capillaris, as treated in herbaria today, com prises four sets of populations. Plants conforming to the type are widespread, and always have a relatively short perianth tube, as described by Lewis (1962), exserted filaments, and frequently distinctive brown cataphylls. Flower colour is most often pale blue-mauve (also described as blue-grey), but white-and yellow-flowered populations have also been recorded.
The first set of divergent populations, from the Worcester District, both in the hills near Worcester and on the plateau at the top of Hex River Pass, consists of plants with the filaments always, and sometimes the bases of the anthers also, included in a tube 8-10 mm long, thus slightly longer than in Ixia capillaris, which has a tube (4-)5-7(-8) mm long and filaments mostly exserted 1-2 mm. These populations also have flow ers with smaller tepals, 8-10 mm long and anthers 3 .5^.0 mm long, compared with tepals 11-15 mm long and anthers (3-)4-5 mm long in I. capillaris. Plants in these populations show no sign of variation for these features, and seen in the field, present a rather different appearance to I. capillaris, often having more branches per stem and thus more flowers. The flowers also have a light, sweet, rose-like scent, whereas those of I. cap illaris that we examined, had a faint or no discemable scent. We conclude that these plants are most appro priately regarded as a separate taxon, which we call I. exiliflora. We include in I. exiliflora, a population of white-flowered plants from near Simonskloof west of Koo (Goldblatt & Porter 12936). These plants closely resemble the blue-flowered I. exiliflora except in colour and have the short stamens and partly included anthers that characterize the species. Plants were in full bloom in undisturbed renosterveld on clay ground.
The second set of divergent populations from the Touws River-Matjiesfontein area, mainly on the lower sandstone slopes of the Bonteberg and Voetpadsberg, and locally in the Little Karoo, consists of plants not only with a longer perianth tube, 13-18(-22) mm, but included filaments that reach just to the mouth of the tube, tepals 11-18 mm long, and anthers 2.5-3.5 mm long. Well-grown plants are also substantially taller than Ixia capillaris, up to 70 mm high, and have one or two short branchlets. Notably, at one locality in the Little Karoo, on Op-de-Tradouw Pass, these long-tubed plants grow parapatrically with typical 1. capillaris, which at that site has a perianth tube 5-6 mm long and exserted filaments typical of the species. Ecological differences were evident between the two taxa at this site, and whereas the long-tubed plants grew in stony ground on ridge tops, I. capillaris occurred nearby on south-facing clay slopes. We believe this set of populations with longtubed flowers and included filaments also merits status as a separate species, which we call I. dieramoides.
The third divergent set of populations has a narrow range in the hills south of Theewaterskloof Dam between Caledon and Villiersdorp, where plants grow in heavy clay. The large flower with a perianth tube 13-15 mm long, tepals 16-21 mm long and filaments exserted up to 10 mm. cannot be accommodated in Ixia capillaris with out radically expanding its circumscription. Additional collecting near the site of the first collection confirms that the corms match those of the I. capillaris complex but, surprisingly, reveal that its flowers are zygomorphic: the stamens are unilateral and are held horizon tally, with the anthers abruptly flexed upward, and the style extended horizontally below the stamens, thus reclinate in orientation. The style divides below or opposite the anther bases, and the style branches are 4.5-5.0 mm long, exceptional for the complex. This plant evidently also merits recognition as a separate species, which we here name I. reclinata. As in the two other sets of popu lations, now to be treated as I. exiliflora and I. dieramoi des, there is no evidence of significant morphological variation in I. reclinata despite the presence of typi cal I. capillaris growing a few kilometres to the south. Ixia reclinata is closer morphologically to I. pauciflora than to I. capillaris in flower size, tube length and in the declinate stamens. A species of the Cold Bokkeveld and Cedarberg, typical I. pauciflora has flowers with a perianth tube 15-18 mm long, filaments exserted 2-6 mm. a style typically dividing opposite the lower third of the anthers, and often an unbranched stem, occasion ally with branchlets 10 mm long, each with one or two, rarely three flowers. In contrast, I. reclinata usually has two or three well-developed branchlets. each bearing up to three flowers.
Distribution and habitat: with the widest range of any species of the complex, Ixia capillaris extends from the Piketberg and Cold Bokkeveld in the north to Bot River in the south and through the southern Cape to Riversdale (Figure 2). Plants favour clay slopes, usually in wetter sites, thus often on south-facing slopes.
Diagnosis and relationships: the type collection (or collections) of Ixia capillaris were made by C.P. Thunberg in the early 1770s (Linnaeus fil. 1782), prob ably in September 1773 when he was in the Cold Bokkeveld (Forbes 1986) where the species is common. Several specimens, on two sheets ( Thunberg Herbarium 935, 936), show the typical attributes of the species, that is, narrow, linear leaves, corm tunics of fine, netted fibres, main spike of 1-3 (lowers, branchlets when pres ent very short and 1 -or 2-flowered, and a perianth tube ± 5 mm long, enclosed by the translucent floral bracts, 6-8 mm long. The plants have a prominent dark cataphyll, a feature typical of the northern populations of the species. The flowers, excluding the ovary, are ± 20 mm long. The A .
distinctive pair of very slender basal leaves less than 2 mm wide and the upper leaf that sheaths the stem for ± half its length, are likewise present in all specimens, some of which have the fairly small corms, mostly ± 8 mm in diameter, and tunics of fine fibres that are charac teristic of the group.
The type material is readily matched by plants from the mountains of Western Cape, long known by the name, and which also have filaments exserted 1-2 mm and anthers held in a column 4.0-4.5 mm long and a style dividing opposite the upper third of the anthers into short branches 1-2 mm long.
For many years in the early 20th century, Ixia capil laris was known as I. linearis L.f., a species described by Linnaeus fil. in 1782 at the same time as I. capillaris. Examination of the type by Brown (1928) showed this plant to be a species of Gladiolus with a radially sym metric perianth, the current name for which is G. quadrangulus (D.Delaroche) Barnard (Goldblatt & Manning 1998).
Plants included here in Ixia capillaris from the Breede River Valley south of Worcester (Goldblatt 2416) and in the hills around Bot River (Goldblatt & Manning 10674. 12685) in the south of its range, are more robust than usual for the species, some individuals more than 500 mm high, and some specimens of these collections have two or three flowers per spike. The short lateral branches and consistently narrow leaves, ± 1 .5 mm wide, as well as the floral features match Ixia capillaris well, although the flowers are among the largest for the species, with the perianth tube exceptional in reaching 8 mm long.
Ixia capillaris is most likely to be confused with I. exiliflora, specimens of which have until now been included in the species. Whereas I. capillaris has flowers with a perianth tube 4-7, rarely 8 mm long, and tepals about twice as long as the tube, I. exiliflora has a peri anth tube 8-10 mm long, and tepals about as long as the tube. The bases of the anthers of /. exiliflora are included in the tube, whereas in I. capillaris the anthers are nor mally exserted 1-2 mm, or rarely barely exserted on included filaments.  Goldblatt & J.C.Manning, sp. nov.
Distribution and habitat: Ixia exiliflora has a nar row range in the Worcester and Montagu Districts (Figure 2), where it has been collected in the hills north of Worcester, in the high country to the east of Keeromsberg, and beyond the top of Hex River Pass. Flowering is relatively early, in later July at lower eleva tions and from mid-August to mid-September at higher elevations. Plants favour loamy clay soils in stony ground, sometimes with sandstone bedrock.
Diagnosis and relationships: at first appearing to be a slightly smaller-flowered variant of the widespread, shorttubed Ixia capillaris, specimens here included in /. exili flora differ in their longer perianth tube 8-10 mm [ver sus (4-)5-7(-8) mm in I. capillaris] and anthers partly included in the tube, whereas the filaments are always exserted ± 2 mm in I. capillaris. The partly included anthers recall the I. rapunculoides complex of species (Goldblatt & Manning 2008), but the very different, nar row leaves and small corms with finely fibrous tunics, as well as the smaller flowers, make it clear that the included filaments are convergent. A collection from near Simonskloof, west of Koo, with white flowers with a yel low cup, expands the known variation of the species. The flowers of these plants closely resemble blue-flowered /. exiliflora except in colour and have the short stamens and partly included anthers that characterize the species.  Goldblatt & J.C.Manning, sp. nov. Plantae Ixiae capillaris similes sed caule ad 700 mm alto, floribus subnutantibus, tubo perianthii 13-18(-22) mm longo anguste campanulato, tepalis 11-18 x 5-9 mm, filamentis ad apicem tubi attingentibus, anthens 2.5-3.5 mm longis, stylo medium vel tertiam partem inferam antherarum adversus dividenti, ramis styli ± 1-2 mm longis.
Plants 350-700 mm high, with a sparse collar of fibres around stem base; cataphylls green or brown, membranous at edges, becoming dry distally. Corm subglobose, 9-14 mm diam., bearing small cormlets at base; tunics of fine fibres. Stem erect or inclined, often nod ding above, with 1-3 short lateral branchlets up to 10 mm long, occasionaly unbranched; bracts and prophylls subtending branchlets, lanceolate to attenuate, 3-8 mm long, silvery translucent. Leaves three, lower two with linear, leathery blades reaching to between middle and upper third of stem, ± 1.2-2.0 mm wide, loosely twisted in upper half, main vein not evident when fresh, slightly raised when dry and lying closer to abaxial margin. Spike with main axis (1)2-or 3(4)-flowered, lateral branchlets 1-or 2-flowered; bracts translucent, (8-)9-11 mm long, outer with 3 dark veins and 3-dentate, inner ± as long as to slightly longer than outer, with 2 dark veins, 2dentate. Flowers ascending, pale mauve-blue to watery lilac or ± violet with pale yellow cup, often sweetly scented; perianth tube 13-18(-22) mm long, widen ing ± uniformly from base to mouth, 5-6 mm diam. at mouth; tepals ovate, outer 13-18 x 7-9 mm, inner 11-14 x 5-8 mm, ascending below, spreading in upper two thirds. Stamens parallel; filaments 3-6 mm long, inserted 10-11 mm from base of tube, reaching to mouth of tube, rarely barely exserted ± 1 mm but held within floral cup; anthers 2.5-3.5 mm long, parallel, yellow, exserted or bases included in tube. Style dividing opposite lower to middle third of anthers, branches 1-2 mm long, when fully extended not reaching anther tips. Capsules and seeds unknown. Flowering time: early August to early October. Figure 3.
Distribution and habitat: fairly common on south-fac ing slopes of the Bonteberg and Voetpadsberg north and west of Touws River. Ixia dieramoides has, until now, seldom been collected but is locally quite frequent on the sandstone slopes of these mountains, and also occurs in a few sites to the southeast in the Little Karoo and in the southern Cedarberg between Wolfberg and Krom River (Figure 4).
Diagnosis and relationships: Ixia dieramoides has corms with fine, netted tunics and narrow, leathery leaves of the I. capillaris type, and differs from that spe cies mainly in the larger flower with a tube 13-18(-22) mm long and in having the filaments and often the bases of the anthers included in the tube. The smaller flowers of /. capillaris have a tube (4-)5-7(-8) mm long, tepals spreading from the base and filaments typically exserted 1-2 mm. Unlike I. capillaris, the flowers are often faintly scented. Well-grown plants usually reach 600 mm high, thus extending substantially above the sur rounding clumps of grass and low shrubs, which in open dry ground may be only 350 mm high. In dry and stony ground in poor soils, plants may be just 250 mm high, have just one or two flowers and may be unbranched. Seen from a distance, the flowering spikes nodding in the breeze resemble smaller-flowered species of Dierama. The immediate affinities of I. dieramoides may be with shorter-tubed I. capillaris or; with the larger-flowered I. pauciflora, which though similar at first glance, has unilateral stamens, the filaments 12-13 mm long and  exserted 2-6 mm from the perianth tube, anthers (4-)5-6 mm long and style branches 3.0-4.5 mm long.
The Cedarberg plants included here in Ixia dieramoides were treated by both Lewis (1962) and De Vos (1999) as /. pauciflora but cannot be accommodated within that species without expanding its circumscription to include plants with short, included filaments 2.5-5.0 mm long, as well as shorter anthers and style branches.
Distribution and habitat: Ixia pauciflora is endemic to the mountains of Western Cape, where it extends from the Cedarberg near Algeria southward though the Cold Bokkeveld to Gydo Pass (Figure 4). There is also a sin gle early record from Piketberg, Mar loth 10563, which seems unlikely and requires confirmation. Plants favour seasonally moist sites on rocky sandstone slopes but may also be found on loamy clay.
Diagnosis and variation: well named for its fewflowered spikes, Ixia pauciflora typically has just one or two flowers on slender, often unbranched stems, or with one or two short branchlets. Robust plants may, however, occasionally have more branchlets, including an exceptional collection from Gydo Pass (Goldblatt & Porter 12987) that includes some plants with up to four branchlets, each bearing two flowers. The flowers are relatively large, having tepals 16-18 mm long, ± as long as the flared perianth tube, long filaments exserted 2-6 mm from the tube, and anthers 4-6 mm long. The sta mens on fully open flowers are unilateral and are held horizontally with the anthers facing the dorsal tepal, a feature impossible to determine from pressed specimens. Vegetatively, the species is virtually identical to the more common I. capillaris in its two linear leaves, small corms with finely fibrous tunics, a collar of fine fibres around the underground part of the stem, and dry, chestnut-brown cataphylls, and differs mainly in the flower. Blooms of I. capillaris are radially symmetric and have a perianth tube 4-8 mm long, ± half as long as the tepals, and filaments ± 5 mm long, usually exserted 1-2 mm from the tube.
Ixia pauciflora also closely resembles the local Villiersdorp endemic, I. reclinata, in its flower, including the unilateral stamens, extended horizontally with declinate anthers but the latter has longer filaments, exserted 8-10 mm (vs 2-6 mm in /. pauciflora). Ixia reclinata also lacks the collar fibres around the stem base pres ent in I. pauciflora, the stems typically have one or two branchlets, and the cataphylls are green or partly mem branous when alive and not dry and chestnut-coloured. Ixia reclinata also differs in having the bracts and prophylls subtending the branchlets short and obtuse to sub acute, quite different to the fine, thread-like bracts and prophylls of the remainder of the complex.
Collections from the southern Cedarberg assigned to Ixia pauciflora by Lewis (1962), e.g. Wagener 140 and Esterhuysen 20570, stand out in having shorter filaments 2.5-5.0 mm long, included in the tube, and anthers 2.5-3.3 mm long, the bases of which are also included. Anthers of I. pauciflora are (4-)5-6 mm long and the filaments are 12-13 mm long. The style branches are also discordant with typical I. pauciflora in being 1.0-1.3 mm long; those of I. pauciflora are 3.0-4.5 mm long. These plants match I. dieramoides in all critical features and we include them in this species, which is centred to the east in the Bonteberg-Voetpadsberg complex. Plants 300-450 mm high, with green to ± membra nous cataphylls. Corm 10-12 mm diam.; tunics fine to medium-textured. Stem with 1 or 2(3) short branchlets subtended by broad, obtuse to subacute bracts some times with a dark central vein, 2-3 mm long, exceeding prophvlls. Leaves three, lower two with linear, leathery blades, ± 1.5 mm wide, central vein not evident when fresh, visible and close to abaxial margin when dry. mar gins hyaline when dry; uppermost leaf entirely sheath ing, reaching to shortly below first branch or with a free tip reaching middle of spike. Spike (1)2-or 3-flowered; branchlets 1-3-flowered; bracts translucent brown. 8-13 mm long, outer bract shortly 3-toothed, inner ± as long as outer, forked at apex. Flowers borne horizontally, zygomorphic with declinate stamens, white suffused with blue-mauve, pale yellow in throat, with age veins becom ing dark-coloured, faintly sweet-scented; perianth tube funnel-shaped, 13-15 mm long; tepals 16-21 x 8.5-11.0 mm. spreading, inner slightly wider than outer. Stamens: filaments 11-12 mm long, unilateral, exserted 8-10 mm from tube; anthers 4-5 mm long, well exserted from flower, parallel and facing upward. Style dividing just below to opposite lower third of anthers, branches 4.5-5.0 mm long. Capsules and seeds unknown. Flowering time: mid-August to early September. Figure 6.
Distribution and habitat: w ith a narrow range in the low hills south of Theewaterskloof Dam. Ixia reclinata ranks as one of the most threatened species in the genus (Figure 4). Populations we have seen are reduced today to narrow strips of native renosterveld in rough and rocky clay ground among ploughed land and pasture.
Diagnosis and relationships: Ixia reclinata was first collected in 1976 (Goldblatt 4001) and tentatively assigned to I. capillaris, largely because of the similar narrow leaves. When we began to investigate that spe cies critically, the collection stood out in its very large flowers with a tube up to 15 mm long and spreading tepals forming a flower about 40 mm in diameter. In the one properly developed flower in the collection, the style divides just below the bases of the anthers into style branches ± 5 mm long, unusual for the complex. This contrasts with a tube up to 8 mm long, flower diam eter of about 20 mm, style dividing opposite the upper third of the anthers and with branches less than 1.5 mm long in I. capillaris. After noting the discordance of this plant with all other collections of I. capillaris, we revis ited the area where plants were first found. Flowering plants growing in fragmentary colonies confirmed our initial observations and yielded sufficient specimens for description, illustration, and preservation.
The flowers of I. reclinata are quite evidently zygomorphic, having unilateral stamens with parallel fila ments extended horizontally, with the anthers held closely together and facing upward. The flowers are also faintly scented. Unilateral stamens are rare in Ixia, and are known in I. pauciflora and in some populations of /. fucata, the latter only distantly related to I. reclinata. We also con firmed the point of division of the style at or below the anthers, a distinctive feature unusual in the genus.
The large flower and unilateral stamens led us to con sider whether Ixia reclinata might not be an isolated and somewhat divergent population of I. pauciflora. That species has similar corms and leaves, but usually an unbranched stem, pale blue-mauve, or sometimes white or pink flowers, occasionally with unilateral sta mens, but the filaments are exserted only 2-5 mm, the anthers are usually symmetrically arranged and diverg ing, and the style usually divides opposite the lower third of the anthers. Equally significant, the stem is usu ally unbranched or has one or rarely two short branch lets, each with a single flower, and the underground part of the stem is sheathed by a collar of fibres, a feature uncommon in Ixia, but also present in the I. capillaris group in I. dieramoides.