Kingdom Plantae Family Asteraceae Rank Species | Order Asterales Genus Berkheya | |
Similar Berkheya purpurea, Arctotideae, Berkheya, Zantedeschia rehmannii, Atractylis | ||
Berkheya carlinopsis Welw. ex O.Hoffm. is a Southern African herb or subshrub belonging to the family Asteraceae (Compositae) and was first described in 1896 in Boletim da Sociedade Broteriana 13 34.
A perennial herb or subshrub up to c. 1.5 m. tall. Stems branched, whitish araneose-tomentose, or glabrescent, leafy. Leaves sessile, 3–6 cm. long, dentate to pinnatifid-dentate; lamina (excluding the teeth or lobes) 2–3(4) mm. wide and linear or 5–15 mm. wide and lanceolate; teeth 3–8 on each side, each tooth 2–6(10) mm. long, triangular or linear and extended in a tawny spine 2–3 mm. long; margins of teeth and sinuses entire or armed with smaller spines; upper surface smooth or somewhat scabrous, slightly to densely araneose-tomentose or glabrescent; lower surface whitish felted-tomentose. Capitula radiate, solitary and terminal on the branches, or subcorymbosely arranged, 2.5–5(+?) cm. in diam. including the rays. Phyllaries spreading, felted-tomentose outside, subglabrous or glabrous inside, 10–20 x 1–3 mm., linear-lanceolate, spiny-acuminate, ciliate-spinescent on the margins with spines 1–3 mm. long; the outermost phyllaries ± leaf-like with small spine-tipped teeth; inner phyllaries smaller and less spinescent-ciliate. Margins of the receptacular alveolae extended into straw-coloured bristles 1–2 mm. long. Achenes 1.5–3.5 mm. long, turbinate, 8–10-ribbed, strigose-sericeous, glandular-viscid at the apex. Pappus scales 2-seriate, 1–1.5 mm. long, narrowly oblong, acute or subobtuse, denticulate towards the apex.
The genus Berkheya was created by the German botanist Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart in 1788 and was in honour of Dutch botanist, Johannes le Francq van Berkhey (1729–1812) - 'carlinopsis' alludes to Carlina, a genus closely resembling Berkheya.