Reclassification of North American Haplopappus (Compositae: Astereae) Completed: Rayjacksonia gen. nov.

Abstract

Rayjacksonia R. L. Hartman & M. A. Lane, gen. nov. (Compositae: Astereae), is named to accommodate the “phyllocephalus complex,” formerly of Haplopappus Cass. sect. Blepharodon DC. The new combinations are R. phyllocephalus (DC.) R. L. Hartman & M. A. Lane, R. annua (Rydb.) R. L. Hartman & M. A. Lane, and R. aurea (A. Gray) R. L. Hartman & M. A. Lane. This transfer completes the reclassification of the North American species of Haplopappus sensu Hall, leaving that genus exclusively South American. Rayjacksonia has a base chromosome number of x = 6. Furthermore, it shares abruptly ampliate disk corollas, deltate disk style-branch appendages, and corolla epidermal cell type, among other features, with Grindelia, Isocoma, Olivaea, Prionopsis, Stephanodoria, and Xanthocephalum. Phylogenetic analyses of morphological and chloroplast DNA restriction site data, taken together, demonstrate that these genera are closely related but distinct.