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Climate and leaf shape relationships in four Helichrysum species from the Eastern Mountain Region of South Africa

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Abstract

Morphological variation in plants can be affected by climate, which influences how species are identified as well as hypotheses of species divergence. We tested whether climatic niches were correlated with the observed morphological (leaf) variation of four geographically overlapping and reproductively similar Helichrysum species (Hilliard’s Group 4 in the southern African flora). We found that two species, H. gymnocomum and H. odoratissimum, showed clear evidence for climatic niche conservatism and that across all species leaf shape was not significantly correlated with climatic niche. Interestingly, there did appear to be a pattern, albeit statistically non-significant, that linked cold, dry climates to leaf shape, particularly for the variable and widespread H. odoratissimum. For example, smaller, narrower leaf shapes were generally found in cooler, drier regions, while large, broad leaves (particularly those of H. odoratissimum) are found in warmer, more humid regions. In addition, the data also showed that two species, H. odoratissimum and H. gymnocomum, comprised a single variable group. The climate-leaf shape patterns could potentially reflect the morphological variation between these two species. Collectively, these findings suggest further work is necessary to determine the role of climate and leaf shape variation in species divergence in the Eastern Mountain Region.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Pretoria National Herbarium (PRE) for access to specimens. This work was funded by the NRF Integrated Biodiversity Information Programme (Grant No. 86964 to GVC). KLG was supported by grant B8749.R01 from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to the Global Change and Sustainability Research Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand. The authors thank R. Benson and T. Jashashvili for input on geometric morphometric analyses and two anonymous reviewers for insightful comments that improved the manuscript. Field specimens were collected under permit numbers (KZN permit OP 5161/2012) to GVC, and permit CRO 29/13CR from the DEDEAT of the Eastern Cape Province and Cape Nature permit AAA008-00081-0028 to KLG.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Animal, Plant, and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Johannesburg, WITS 2050, South Africa

    Kelsey L. Glennon & Glynis V. Cron

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  1. Kelsey L. Glennon
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Correspondence to Kelsey L. Glennon.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Vegetative characters

  1. 1.

    Plant height, if on sheet (cm)

  2. 2.

    Stem habit: erect/decumbent—woolly/woolly wanting

  3. 3.

    Stem: branchlets becoming pedunculoid upwards with distant reduced leaves/bracts Y/N

  4. 4.

    Leaf shape (at or below 7th node): linear-oblong/lanceolate/lingulate/spathulate

  5. 5.

    Lower (at or below 7th node) leaves attachment: pseudopetiolate-like/sessile

  6. 6.

    Presence of trichomes (wool) on leaf surface: ventral/dorsal/dorsal and ventral

  7. 7.

    Leaf trichomes abaxial surface: thin/thick woolly/without wool/glabrescent above

  8. 8.

    Leaf trichomes adaxial surface: thin wool/thick wool/without wool

  9. 9.

    Leaf surface glandular and setose-scabrid above: Y/N

  10. 10.

    Leaf apex shape (at or below 7th node): acute/obtuse/mucronate

  11. 11.

    Leaf base shape (at or below 7th node): narrowed/broad

  12. 12.

    Stem Wings: narrow/broad/wanting

  13. 13.

    Longest leaf length (mm; average of 3 leaves)

  14. 14.

    Longest leaf width: measured at the widest point (mm; average of 3 leaves)

  15. 15.

    Leaf Length (nodes 7–11) (mm; avg of 3 leaves)

  16. 16.

    Leaf width (nodes 7–11) (mm; avg of 3 leaves)

Appendix 2

See Table 7.

Table 7 Factor loadings for both annual and seasonal climate variables
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Appendix 3

See Table 8.

Table 8 Two-block partial least squares analysis for all species leaf shape and only climate variables
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Glennon, K.L., Cron, G.V. Climate and leaf shape relationships in four Helichrysum species from the Eastern Mountain Region of South Africa. Evol Ecol 29, 657–678 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-015-9782-7

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