Chryselium, a New South American Genus Segregated from Helichrysum (Asteraceae, Gnaphalieae)

Abstract

Chryselium Urtubey & S. E. Freire, a new monotypic genus, is here described and illustrated to accomodate one species that was initially placed in Helichrysum, H. gnaphalioides, as Chryselium gnaphalioides. The new genus, Chryselium, is a monoecious herb with single stems and terminal capitulescences that are densely glomerulate from the Tropical Andes of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru. This genus differs fundamentally from Helichrysum by having a stoloniferous habit and corollas with purple apices. Amolecular analysis using DNA sequences from nuclear (ITS and ETS) markers placed this genus in a clade with Chevreulia, Cuatrecasasiella, Antennaria, and Diaperia in the FLAG group. Affinities of the new genus with genera previously assigned to Chryselium are also discussed.