Spergularia hanoverensis (Caryophyllaceae): Validation and Recircumscription of a Misinterpreted Species from South Africa

The name “Spergularia hanoverensis Simon” has been misapplied to an endemic taxon confined to inland semidesert ecosystems in central-western South Africa. It is commonly accepted as a small annual species occurring in saline habitats in a wide elevation range, but its identity still remains obscure. In the context of taxonomic and phylogenetic research on the African species of Spergularia, we found that the name was never validly published. After revision of herbarium material housed in South African herbaria, a voucher collected from Hanover was found at PRE bearing some labels handwritten by E. Simon that suggest it might be an intended type for the name. Additional herbarium material and wild populations from the Karoo region were identified that matched the samples in that voucher, and taxonomic research was conducted to clarify their identity. Among other characters, those Karoo plants show a woody dense compact habit, woody perennial at base; stems prostrate to ascendent; leaves entirely glabrous, somewhat glaucous; large white-hyaline conspicuous stipules; inflorescence glanduliferous, many-flowered subdichasial cyme, with minute bracts; flowers small, with white petals approximately equalling sepals in length, stamens 7–8, and styles free from base; capsule small, with seeds dimorphic, unwinged to broadly winged, with testa always densely tuberculate. Molecular analyses of plastid (trnL-trnF region) and nuclear ribosomal (5.8S-ITS2 region) DNA sequence data support morphological differentiation of the Karoo plants, for which the name S. hanoverensis is here effectively published. A full morphological description and data on ecology, habitat, distribution, and taxonomic and phylogenetic relationships of S. hanoverensis are compared to other members of the “South African group”, namely S. glandulosa, S. namaquensis, and S. quartzicola, from which the new species considerably differs. The adaptative significance of dimorphic seeds of S. hanoverensis is briefly commented on in the context of the species habitat preference. An identification key is presented for the South African related taxa.