Three New Species of Craterispermum (Rubiaceae) from the Lower Guinea Domain
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Blumea 57, 2013: 236–242 www.ingentaconnect.com/content/nhn/blumea RESEARCH ARTICLE http://dx.doi.org/10.3767/000651913X663776 Three new species of Craterispermum (Rubiaceae) from the Lower Guinea Domain H. Taedoumg1, P. Hamon2 Key words Abstract Three species of Craterispermum are described from Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Detailed descriptions and distribution maps are provided for each species, their conservation status is assessed and their Cameroon taxonomic affinities are discussed. An identification key for the Craterispermum species present in Cameroon, Craterispermum Equatorial Guinea and Gabon is given. C. deblockianum C. rumpianum Published on 22 January 2013 C. sonkeanum Equatorial Guinea Gabon Rubiaceae INTRODUCTION not remain on the plant for long, making identification of spe- cies in the field easier but still difficult. The above-mentioned The genus Craterispermum (Rubiaceae) is distributed in tropi- reasons make new Craterispermum species hard to describe. cal Africa, Madagascar and the Seychelles (Robbrecht 1988). We are currently undertaking the revision of the genus for Craterispermum can easily be diagnosed at genus level by continental Africa. The examination of the available material the presence of raphides, by its axillary or supra-axillary, often allowed us to highlight the existence of several new species. condensed, inflorescences generally borne on stout flattened Next to the 16 species currently known to science (Govaerts et peduncles and by its small white heterostylous flowers. The al. 2011), several new species exist, both in continental Africa ovary is bilocular with a single, apically attached, pendulous (e.g. Sosef et al. 2006) and in Madagascar (Verdcourt 1973, ovule in each locule. One ovule aborts and the fleshy fruit con- Randriamboavonjy & De Block 2010, Taedoumg pers. obs.). tains a single, asymmetrical bowl-shaped seed, the seed-coat Hitherto, we have described two new species from continental of which is discontinuous and comprised of isolated cells with Africa, bringing the total up to 18 (Taedoumg et al. 2011). The ring-like thickenings (Igersheim 1992). Typical for Craterisper present paper describes three species from Cameroon, Gabon mum is also the accumulation of aluminium in leaf and stem and Equatorial Guinea, C. deblockianum, C. rumpianum and tissue, which gives the characteristic yellowish green foliage C. sonkeanum. An identification key for the Craterispermum in dried condition (Jansen et al. 2000). species present in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon is also given. Because no recent monograph of the genus exists, it is currently very difficult to identify at species level the several thousand existing herbarium specimens. The taxonomic position of the MATERIALS AND METHODS genus Craterispermum within the Rubiaceae family is not clear. Sometimes Craterispermum is considered to belong Herbarium specimens from BR, BRLU, MO, P, WAG and YA (abbreviations after Holmgren et al. 1990) were examined. to a monogeneric tribe of uncertain affinity (Craterispermeae Measurements, colours and other details are based on the Verdc.; Verdcourt 1958). Alternatively, it is considered closely study of herbarium specimens, material conserved in alcohol, related to Morindeae Miq. s.l. and Schradereae Bremek. (Rob- and data derived from field notes. In the descriptions, inflores- brecht & Manen 2006), or to Prismatomerideae Y.Z.Ruan. cence size does not include the corollas, and colours (except (Razafimandimbison et al. 2008). More recently, Bremer & for flower colours) given are for dried material. Descriptive Eriksson (2009) maintained the tribal status of Craterisper terminology follows Robbrecht (1988) and Anonymous (1962). mum and stated that Craterispermeae, Gaertnereae Bremek. Specimens are cited per country, alphabetically by collector. ex Darwin, Morindeae, Psychotrieae Cham. & Schltdl. and The conservation status was assessed by applying the IUCN Schradereae belong to the Psychotrieae alliance. Red List Category criteria (IUCN 2001) using the Conservation Herbarium material of Craterispermum is often poor, generally Assessment Tools extension in ArcView 3.3. carrying only residual inflorescences. Because of the compact structure of the inflorescences, flowers and fruits fall easily IDENTIFICATION KEY TO THE SPECIES OF during collecting, pressing, drying and the assembly in the CRATERISPERMUM PRESENT IN CAMEROON, herbarium. Moreover, flowers are short-lived and ripe fruits do EQUATORIAL GUINEA AND GABON 1 Plant Systematic and Ecology Laboratory, Higher Teacher’s Training Col- 1. Tertiary and especially quaternary venation obscure; leaf lege, University of Yaoundé I, P.O. Box 047, Yaoundé, Cameroon; corresponding author e-mail: [email protected]. blades coriaceous ..............................2 2 Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR DIADE, 911 avenue 1. Tertiary and quaternary venation conspicuous; leaf blades Agropolis, BP 64501, 34394 Montpellier CEDEX 5, France. coriaceous or papyraceous .......................3 © 2013 Nationaal Herbarium Nederland You are free to share - to copy, distribute and transmit the work, under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non-commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No derivative works: You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work, which can be found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/legalcode. Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author’s moral rights. H. Taedoumg & P. Hamon: Three new species of Craterispermum 237 2. Inflorescences 25–65 mm long, not very compact, consist- 9. Inflorescences pedunculate; peduncles stout, 1–7(–10) mm ing of 2 branches up to 60 mm long; peduncle 7–23 mm long, stipules persistent; leaf blades coriaceous. — Angola, long; leaf blades 11–35 by 6–13.5 cm; corolla tube 6–8 mm Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Demo- long. — Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon . cratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Ma- .................C. ledermannii K.Krause (1912: 417) lawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Popular Republic of the Congo, 2. Inflorescences 2.2–18 mm long, very compact, subcapi- Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, but tate or consisting of 2–3 branches, each 4.5–15 mm long; absent from Madagascar .......................... peduncle 0.6–7 mm long; leaf blades 6–23 by 1.5–8 cm; ........... C. schweinfurthii Hiern (in Oliver 1877: 161) corolla tube c. 4 mm long. — Cameroon, Gabon ....... ............... C. robbrechtianum Taedoumg & Sonké ......................(in Taedoumg et al. 2011: 704) Craterispermum deblockianum Taedoumg & Hamon, sp. nov. — Fig. 1; Map 1 3. Bracteoles longer than calyx, long aristate; peduncles 1–5 mm long ......................................4 C. caudatum Hutch. praecipue propter fructus longe pedicellatos sed etiam 3. Bracteoles shorter than calyx, broadly triangular or ovate; propter stipulas acuminatas atque foliorum laminas longe acuminatas proxi- peduncles 1.4–23 mm long .......................5 mum; foliorum laminis multinervis (cum nervis lateralibus in 14–16 paribus vs in 6–10 paribus) et majoribus (8.5–25 × 3.2–7.5 cm vs 5–14.5 × 1.7–5.3 4. Stipules 5–11 mm long, with short and broadly triangular tips; cm) atque ramorum novellorum aspectu granulari (vs glabri et cristato in 5–6 pairs of secondary veins; flowers 5-merous; calyx lobes C. caudatum) ab illo differt. — Typus: Louis AM, Breteler & De Bruijn 1255 equal; tertiary and higher order venation laxly and irregularly (holo WAG; iso MO, WAG), Gabon, old forest along exploitation road, km 2 reticulate; leaf blades 11–25.5 by 4–8 cm. — Cameroon, SE of forestry camp Waka, situated about 32 km SE of Sindara, Waka river Nigeria . C. aristatum Wernham (in Rendle et al. 1913: 51) basin (S1°14' E10°53'), 10 Dec. 1983. 4. Stipules 5–16 mm long, with long narrowly triangular tips; Etymology. The species is named after Dr Petra De Block, specialist of 10–12 pairs of secondary veins; flowers 4-merous; calyx Rubiaceae and senior researcher in the Department of Phanerogamy of the lobes unequal; tertiary and higher order venation closely National Botanical Garden of Belgium, for her contribution to the knowledge and ± regularly reticulate; leaf blades 6.7–14 by 2–4.8 cm. of the African Rubiaceae. — Equatorial Guinea, Gabon .......... C. sonkeanum Shrub or treelet 1–5 m tall, all vegetative and generative parts 5. Stipules with conspicuous narrowly triangular tip, tip 2–8 mm glabrous. Twigs pale green or brown or fawnish, with surface long; fruits pedicellate; venation ± regularly reticulate with granular. Stipules caducous; basal portion 2–3 mm long; tip secondary veins parallel and ± perpendicular to midrib.. 6 narrowly triangular, 2–7 mm long. Leaves petiolate; petioles 5. Stipules with short tip not exceeding 1.5 mm; fruits sessile; canaliculate, 8–20 mm long; leaf blades narrowly obovate or venation irregularly reticulate with secondary veins not paral- more rarely, narrowly elliptic, 8.5–25 by 3.2–7.5 cm, subcoria- lel to midrib . .7 ceous, pale green or pale greenish brown above, not discolor- 6. Stipules persistent; leaf blades papyraceous, 3.3–11 by ous or slightly paler below; base cuneate;