Ursiniinae K. Bremer & Humphries

Oberprieler, Christoph, Töpfer, Alisha, Dorfner, Marco, Stock, Miriam & Vogt, Robert, 2022, An updated subtribal classification of Compositae tribe Anthemideae based on extended phylogenetic reconstructions, Willdenowia 52 (1), pp. 117-149 : 125

3. Ursiniinae K. Bremer & Humphries in Bull. Nat. Hist. Mus. London, Bot. 23: 91. 1993. – Type: Ursinia Gaertn. ( Ursinia paradoxa (L.) Gaertn.).

Description — Annual or perennial herbs or shrublets. Indumentum absent or of basifixed hairs. Leaves alternate, entire to 2-pinnatisect, sometimes succulent. Capitula solitary or in lax corymbs, radiate or discoid, pedunculate. Involucre hemispheric. Phyllaries in 3–7 rows, with narrow to broad scarious margins. Receptacle hemispheric, paleate; paleae canaliculate, elliptic or narrowly linear with an apical limb. Ray florets usually neuter, sometimes female and fertile; limb yellow, orange, white or reddish. Disc florets hermaphrodite, fertile; corolla 5-lobed, yellow, purplish. Achenes cylindric or obovoid, straight or curved, circular in cross-section, with 5 ribs and a basal tuft of hairs or glabrous; apex with a uniseriate pappus of 5–10 ovate or circular scales, a biseriate pappus of 5 outer such scales and 5 inner subulate ones or rarely epappose; pericarp rarely with myxogenic cells. Embryo sac development monosporic. Base chromosome numbers x = 5, 7, 8.

Distribution — South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Ethiopia.

Members — Ursinia Gaertn. (43).

Notes — The present results support our previous findings ( Oberprieler & al. 2007) that the circumscription of Ursiniinae sensu Bremer & Humphries (1993) with the inclusion of genera classified in subtribes Athanasiinae ( Athanasia , Hymenolepis , Lasiospermum ) and Phymasperminae ( Eumorphia , Gymnopentzia , Phymaspermum ) is not supported as a monophyletic assemblage. Conversely, all gene- and species-tree reconstructions unequivocally indicate the close phylogenetic relationship with the S African genus Inulanthera . However, due to the considerable morphological differences between Ursinia and Inulanthera described in detail in the following subtribal account, we have refrained from uniting the two genera in Ursiniinae . A preliminary molecular phylogenetic study of Ursinia by Swelankomo (2008) based on nrDNA ITS sequence information revealed some support for the infrageneric classification of Ursinia species into U. subg. Ursinia (with a biseriate pappus of five outer scales and five inner subulate awns) and U. subg. Sphenogyne (Aiton) Prassler (with a uniseriate pappus of 5–10 ovate or circular scales) but did not provide any justification for the acknowledgement of the two monophyletic groups as independent genera. As a consequence, four newly discovered species of this plant group were all described in the broadly circumscribed genus Ursinia ( Magee & al. 2014).