Clarification of the concept of Aframmi (Heteromorpheae, Apiaceae) and a new monotypic genus, Normantha

Aframmi is a mixed concept made up of disparate elements from three different genera. Recent studies of Aframmi angolense, the type species of Aframmi, provide evidence that the species belongs to the genus Heteromorpha. An examination of the type specimen of Aframmi longiradiatum shows it to be fundamentally different from the generitype, A. angolense, and better placed in Physotrichia, in which it was originally described. The third element, previously misidentified as A. longiradiatum, is an as yet undescribed species with populations from both sides of the Zambia-Tanzania border as well as Angola. This new species is here accommodated in a new monotypic genus and described as Normantha filiformis P.J.D.Winter. The affinities of Normantha P.J.D.Winter & B-E.van Wyk with other genera currently considered to belong in the tribe Heteromorpheae are discussed. A combination of inflorescence and fruit morphological evidence as well as the extended, woody vegetative axis in common with the other (typically woody) genera in the tribe, lead us to postulate an affinity with Pseudocarum.