The vascular plants of the Dzanga-Sangha Reserve, Central African Republic David J. Harris Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 20A Inverleith Row Edinburgh, EH3 5LR UK Email [email protected] 1 Scripta Botanica Belgica Miscellaneous documentation published by the National Botanic Garden (Belgium) Series editor: E. Robbrecht Volume 23 D.J. Harris The vascular plants of the Dzanga-Sangha Reserve, Central African Republic CIP Royal Library Albert I, Brussels The vascular plants of the Dzanga-Sangha Reserve, Central African Republic. David J. Harris – Meise, National Botanic Garden of Belgium, 2002. – 274 p.; ill.: 22 cm. – (Scripta Botanica Belgica, Vol. 23). ISBN 90-72619-50-1 ISSN 0779-2387 D/2002/0325/2 Publication date: December 15, 2002 Address of the author Dr. David J. Harris Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 20A Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR, U.K. [[email protected]] Cover illustration of Berlinia craibiana Baker f. (photo D.J. Harris) Copyright © 2002 National Botanic Garden (Belgium) Printed in Belgium by Universa Wetteren 2 Abstracts Abstract. – This is an annotated checklist of the vascular plants occurring in the Dzanga-Sangha Dense Forest Reserve (4380 km2) in the south west of the Central African Republic. This area has been until now one of the least well-known in Africa. The list contains 1090 species collected in the Reserve. The number of species which could be named accurately was 958 (88%). The list contains many new records for the Central African Repub- lic and many extensions to known ranges. Each species name is annotated with the following headings: literature reference, habit, habitat, distribution, local distribution within the Reserve, phenology information and cited specimens. The introduction has information on climate, vegetation types and phytogeography of the area. There is discussion on what should be included in botanical checklists from poorly known tropical areas. Resumé. – Voici l’inventaire détaillé des plantes vasculaires existant dans la Réserve de forêt dense de la Dzanga-Sangha (4380 km2), dans le sud- ouest de la République centrafricaine. Cette région était restée jusqu’à présent l’une des moins prospectées de l’Afrique. Cet inventaire comprend quelque 1090 espèces. Le nombre d’espèces qui ont pu être déterminées avec certitude est de 958, soit 88% du total. La préscence de nombreuses espèces est signalée pour la première fois en République centrafricaine et a permis d’étendre leur aire de distribution. Pour chaque espèce, les infor- mations suivantes sont fournies: référence bibliographique, port, habitat, distribution locale dans l’enceinte de la Réserve, phénologie et citation des spécimens. L’introduction donne un aperçu du climat, des types de végé- tation, et de la phytogéographie de la région. Ces différents points font l’objet d’une discussion pour ce qui concerne les inventaires en provenance de régions tropicales mal connues. 3 4 Acknowledgments Over a period of thirteen years numerous people have helped in the process of producing this checklist. Only a few of them can be thanked personally here but I extend my heartfelt thanks to those who supported me during this period. All the directors of the Dzanga-Sangha Project and their counterparts facilitated this work, especially the late U. Ngatoua and A. Blom. In addi- tion almost all the staff of the Dzanga-Sangha Project helped me at various times. The following deserve special mention: J. Bobero, O. Doko, J. Fan- gonda, H. Ngaima, C. Zaolo. J. Bakembe accompanied me most of the time in the field. His patience, sense of humour, kindness got us through some tough times. His sharing of his knowledge of the plants of this area, the culture of his people and his forest skills has made my life richer. In the Bangui WWF office the late A. Mombe and F. Gotaya helped many times with great kindness. Fellow researchers J. Ray and A. Turkalo provided hospitality over the years. A. Kretsinger shared a long-term commitment to an area and made her home my own. This checklist was the idea of J.M. Fay, who supervised with a critical eye the first two years of the field work. The standards which he set me are the ones I have tried to maintain. My fellow taxonomists encouraged and helped me throughout the proc- ess of identifying the specimens. They handed out their hard earned knowledge and pointed me in the right direction many times. Without my interaction with them my task would have been much harder and this would be a much poorer checklist. I therefore express my gratitude to: G. Achoundong, C. Berg, S. Bidgood, J. Bos, F. Breteler, D. Bridson, R. Brummitt, S. Cable, M. Cheek, M. Coode, J. Cowley, P. Cribb, S. Dawson, F. Dowsett-Lemaire, J. Dransfield, P. Edwards, R. Faden, E. Figueiredo, I. Friis, the late A. Gentry, R. Gereau, D. Goyder, F.N. Hepper, C. Jongkind, J. Léonard, A. Le Thomas, A.J.M. Leeuwenberg, G. Lewis, J.M. Lock, P. Lowry, B. Mackinder, S. Mayo, R. Mill, J.-M. Moutsamboté, B. Nkong- meneck, J.-M. Onana, A. Paton, T.R. Pennington, R. Polhill, A. Poulsen, G. Prance, A. Radcliffe-Smith, L. Rico, M. Sands, B. Schrire, K. Sidwell, D. Simpson, T. Sunderland, D. Thomas, P. Tuley, B. Verdcourt, K. Vollesen, the late F. White and P. Wilkin. R. Carroll of WWF-US provided support through out the period of this work. His understanding of the importance of basic inventory work was 5 crucial at several points in this project. Without his support this checklist would not be as complete. D. Filer provided free software and support for his computer pro- gramme for taxonomic data, “Brahms”, he listened patiently to a demanding taxonomist and replied to many of my numerous requests by incorporating them into his programme. C. Gibb kindly helped with final formatting of the text. C. Leaver as Head of Department of Plant Sciences, University of Ox- ford provided support at a difficult time for this research and went the extra mile to assure the successful completion of the work. G. Prance as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and his staff made me welcome at that institution for a period of sixteen months. R. Scotland provided inspiration when light was not visible at the end of the tunnel and was responsible for obtaining a crucial three years of funding. C. Trapnell took a keen interest in this study and was very supportive with the Trapnell Fund, University of Oxford. This work was funded by Leverhulme Trust (F 642/C), WWF-US (Grant No. 6296), WWF-US and USAID (Grant No. 5554 –A-00-8044). Additional grants were provided by the Trapnell Fund, the Percy Sladen Memorial Trust, the Pat Brenan Memorial Trust and the James A. Swan Fund. The Ministers of Water, Forests and the Environment and the High Commissioners for Tertiary Education and Research of the Central African Republic are thanked for their permission to carry this research and to ex- port the specimens. 6 Contents Abstracts.......................................................................................................30H1H Acknowledgments ........................................................................................52H Part 1. Introduction....................................................................................93H The site .........................................................................................................94H Climate .........................................................................................................95H Vegetation types .........................................................................................106H (1) Mixed species terra firma forest ........................................................107H (2) Gilbertiodendron dewevrei forest.......................................................138H 9H10H11H (3) Riparian forest ....................................................................................1512H (4) Open swamp forest, including Raphia swamp ...................................1513H (5) Seasonally flooded forest along the Sangha River .............................1614H (6) Cyperaceae dominated meadows along streams - “bais”...................1715H (7) Savanna..............................................................................................1716H Phytogeography..........................................................................................1817H Previous botanical exploration ...................................................................2118H Methods ......................................................................................................21 Results ........................................................................................................2319H Part 2. The checklist .................................................................................2720H Layout, headings and abbreviations ...........................................................2721H Pteridophyta................................................................................................2922H Spermatophyta............................................................................................34 Gymnospermae ........................................................................................3423H Angiospermae-Dicotyledones..................................................................3524H Angiospermae-Monocotyledones ..........................................................21925H Bibliography.............................................................................................24926H Index ........................................................................................................261