Notes on the Delosperma-Clade (Aizoaceae)

Abstract

Abstract. 47 accessions of the Delosperma-clade are analyzed using ITS and four chloroplast markers. With two exceptions, Frithia pulchra and Delosperma esterhuyseniae, all accessions are retrieved in a single, unsupported Delosperma s.l. clade. The main Delosperma s.str. clade is well supported and falls in three subclades, one comprising the two Mestoklema accessions, the other two mainly Delosperma accessions, but also Corpuscularia and Ectotropis. These genera are therefore subsumed under Delosperma. Trichodiadema accessions are retrieved in several places inside the Delosperma s.l. clade. The East African-Arabian Delosperma species are monophyletic if D. alpina from the Drakensberg is included; but they are not monophyletic with the species from Madagascar and Réunion. The species of the Central Plateau of southern Africa are also monophyletic and sister to the East African-Arabian species. Two new species, Delosperma heidihartmanniae and D. melepoense, are here described in the East African-Arabian clade.