Inulantherinae Oberpr. & Töpfer, 2022

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 : 126

4. Inulantherinae Oberpr. & Töpfer , subtrib. nov. Type: Inulanthera Källersjö ( Inulanthera calva (Hutch.) Källersjö ).

Description — Shrubs or subshrubs. Indumentum absent or of basifixed hairs. Leaves alternate, entire to lobed. Capitula in dense corymbs, discoid. Involucre hemispheric to spheric. Phyllaries in 3 rows, with narrow, pale to light brown scarious margins. Receptacle flat, paleate, rarely epaleate; paleae linear, flat to shallowly canaliculate, with a central resin duct. Florets hermaphrodite, fertile; corolla 5-lobed, yellow; anthers basally caudate, with polarized endothecial tissue. Achenes obovoid, circular in cross-section, with (8–)10 ribs; apex with a corona of small, entire to toothed scales terminating each rib; pericarp smooth, sometimes papillose, without myxogenic cells or resin sacs, but with protruding, light brown glands. Embryo sac development and base chromosome number unknown.

Distribution — South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Angola, Zimbabwe, Madagascar.

Members — Inulanthera Källersjö (9; see Magoswana & al. 2016).

Notes — A close evolutionary relationship between Inulanthera and the two genera Gonospermum Less. and Lugoa DC. from the Canary Islands was suggested by the treatment of these genera under a subtribe Gonosperminae ( Bremer & Humphries 1993) but was demonstrated as being unsupported in molecular phylogenetic analyses ( Oberprieler & al. 2007, 2009; Sonboli & al. 2012), hence the subtribal placement of Inulanthera remained unresolved. Despite the consistent sister-group relationship of Inulanthera and Ursinia in the previously mentioned and present molecular phylogenetic studies, distinct differences between the two genera in morphological respects rather suggest the erection of an independent, unigeneric subtribe than the merging of the two genera into an extremely heterogeneous one: Inulanthera differs from Ursinia by its discoid capitula in dense corymbs, its caudate anthers and its achenes devoid of a well-developed, scaly pappus. Within the whole tribe, the caudate anthers are shared only by Osmitopsis (Osmitopsidinae) and Hippolytia ( Artemisiinae ; Oberprieler & al. 2007, 2009), but close phylogenetic relationships to these three genera have never been substantiated.