Anisophyllea cabole Henriques (1901: 85)

Chen, Xin, He, Hai & Zhang, Li-Bing, 2015, A monograph of the Anisophylleaceae (Cucurbitales) with description of 18 new species of Anisophyllea, Phytotaxa 229 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

10. Anisophyllea cabole Henriques (1901: 85) ( Figure 19 )

Type:— SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE. São Tomé: roça Potó , 1898, A. J. d’Almeida s.n. (lectotype COI-00005676!, here designated, isolectotype BR-6272685!) .

Trees 35–40 m tall, 1.5–1.8 m in diam.; young branches with mixture of brown appressed and patent or ascending straight hairs (appressed ones sericeous, ca. 0.5 mm long; patent or ascending ones pilose, up to 1.5 mm); buds densely sericeous. Leaves dimorphic, internodes between similar types of leaves 1.2–4.0 cm long, between two adjacent different types of leaves 0.3–1.3 cm long; small leaves persistent, sessile, deltoid ovate, 0.8–1.5 cm long, 3–5 mm wide, base acute or rounded, apex acuminate, margins pilose-ciliate, sparsely sericeous on both surfaces, main veins 3–5; large leaves petiolate, petiole 3–4 mm long, 1.0– 1.6 mm in diam., sericeous as young branches; leaf blade ovate-lanceolate, 8.0– 20.5 cm long, 3.5–9.0 cm wide, base slightly oblique, obtuse or rounded, apex long-acuminate, chartaceous, darkly green and glossy adaxially, pale-green abaxially, sericeous on both surfaces when young, glabrescent when matured; main longitudinal veins 5–7, springing from blade base, three innermost lateral veins merged with midrib at 0.1–1.4 cm, 0.5–2.0 cm, and 4.5–6.5 cm above blade base respectively before separated, impressed adaxially and distinctly raised abaxially, outermost two lateral veins very fine and almost confluent with blade margins, slightly prominent on both surfaces; transverse veins parallel, at angles of 60–80° with midrib, slightly prominent on both surfaces, turning black when dry; veinlets reticulate. Inflorescences a supra-axillary spike, tenuous, rachis to 15 cm long, remotely flowered, without bract; flowers bisexual, 4-merous, sessile; receptacle cylindric, ca. 1 mm long; sepals deltoid, ca. 1.5 mm long, 1 mm wide at base, margins pilose-ciliate and a little revolute; petals 5 laciniate distally, laciniae threadlike, white; stamens 8, filaments shorter than petals, clavate at base, distally curved, anthers short; styles 4, free, base clavate, distal three fourth much tenuous.

Flowering and fruiting: —Unknown.

34 • Phytotaxa 229 (1) © 2015 Magnolia Press

CHEN ET AL.

Habitat and distribution: —In forests; 150– 450 m. Republic of the Congo (Kouilou); Nigeria (Cross River, Edo); São Tomé and Príncipe (São Tomé); Sierra Leone (Kono) ( Figure 20 ) .

Vernacular names: — Cabolé .

Taxonomic notes: —When Anisophyllea cabole was published by Henriques (1901) it was not compared with any other known western African species, and it was supposed to be endemic on the Island of São Tomé. It differs from other species in its mixture of hairs on young branches, its relatively large-sized large leaves, its persistent small leaves, its inflorescences lacking of bracts, and most importantly, as proposed by Engler (1921), its styles with a broadened base that is one third length of the distally much tenuous part. In the protologue, two collections

MONOGRAPH OF ANISOPHYLLEACEAE

Phytotaxa 229 (1) © 2015 Magnolia Press • 35 were cited without specifying the type. We examined both and found two duplicates of A. J. d’Almeida s.n. deposited in BR and COI, respectively. Here we designate the one at COI as its lectotype. Neither of the collections from São Tomé have information about its habitat especially elevations. It was reported that the species on the Island occurred at ca. 1400 m ( Oldfield et al. 1998). Its occurrence in other areas of mainland western Africa is based on the specimens we examined. As a useful wood tree species, it might have been introduced from São Tomé instead of Cameroon and Togo to mainland western Africa ( Winkler 1912). It is reported that the fruits of this species are edible in Guinea ( Winkler 1912). We did not see any fruits on the specimens examined.

Additional specimens examined: — REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO. Kouilou: Route of Dimonika to Pounga , 25 November 1978, G . Cusset 562 ( K) . NIGERIA. Cross River: Oban Hills. Forest ca . 7.8 km NNW of Manko Hill, 05°26’33”N 008°33’58”E, 450 m, 20 November 1995, Ndoma & et al. 803 ( MO); Oban Hills. Forest ca . 5.5 km SSW of Abung , 05°19’18”N 008°45’42”E, 150 m, 6 December 1995, Ndoma & J . Ntui 911 ( MO). Edo: Benin city, Okomu forest reserve, 08 September 1947, J . P . M. Brenan 8423 ( K) . SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE: São Tomé: Angolares, 1898, Curado s.n. ( COI) . SIERRA LEONE. Kono: Kalaba, Mt. Loma , 09 February 1966, Jacques-Georges 23643 ( MO) .

Figures

FIGURE 19. Anisophyllea cabole Henriques. Leafy branch (A. J. d’Almeida s.n.; lectotype, COI-00005676).

FIGURE 20. Geographical distribution of Anisophyllea cabole Henriques.