Anisophyllea boehmii Engler (1895: 287)

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

5. Anisophyllea boehmii Engler (1895: 287) ( Figure 10 )

Type:— TANZANIA. Tabora District: Pori on the heights between Magengwe & Bamanda, Böhm 80a (holotype B, not found). TANZANIA. Rukwa: Mpanda, T4 , Issa River , 05°26’S 030°35’E, 1200 m, 15 December 2002, Y. S. Abeid & et al. 1192 (neotype, MO-5775687 !, here designated) .

Small trees ca. 10 m tall, densely branched, bark smooth to rough, brown or grayish, longitudinally striate; young branches densely tomentose with tortuous and thickly matted hairs rusty and lustrous, to 0.8 mm long, and also pilose with straight hairs up to 1 mm long, indumentum turning brownish-grey when aging and only thinly tomentose or glabrescent when mature; buds densely tomentose at base, upward pilose as young branches. Leaves dimorphic; small leaves caducous, sessile, stipule-like, at lower part of young branches, 3–5 mm long, tomentose with rusty hairs on both surfaces; large leaves petiolate, petiole 2–6 mm long, 1.1–1.8 in diam., densely tomentose with rusty hairs; leaf blade ovate, narrowly to broadly elliptic, lanceolate, obovate, or rarely suborbicular, 5–11 cm long, 2.0– 5.5 cm wide, base symmetric or ±asymmetric, cuneate to obtuse, rarely cordate, apex narrowly acuminate, acute or obtuse, occasionally rounded or, rarely, retuse or emarginate, coriaceous, glossy, densely tomentose on both surfaces when young, sparsely hairy or glabrescent adaxially when mature, indumentum rather dense or thinned abaxially when mature; main longitudinal veins 5–7, midrib straight, innermost pair of lateral main veins curved halfway to blade apex and separate from midrib at 0.5–3.8 cm above blade base, other lateral veins springing from blade base or at most 0.5 cm above base, outermost two lateral veins very fine, almost confluent with blade margins or occasionally disappearing halfway to blade apex, flat or slightly prominent adaxially and distinctly raised abaxially; transverse veins sub-parallel, at angles of 50–60° with midrib, those from midrib often more sparsely spaced and more patent towards blade apex than those close to blade margins; veinlets reticulate, slightly prominent on both surfaces. Inflorescence an axillary spike, most often in axils of small leaves at base of the young branches, sometimes also in axils of large leaves; rachis ascending, 3–10(–15) cm long, remotely with flowers; bracts narrowly lanceolate, ca. 2 mm long, early deciduous, each often with one supra-axillary flower; rachis, bracts and flower buds all densely tomentose as young branches; flowers bisexual, 4–5-merous, sessile; receptacle cylindric, ca. 1.2 mm long, same in diam., densely tomentose; sepals ca. 2 mm long, more or less triangular, pale green (tinged purplish-pink externally), margins ciliate, glabrous adaxially, moderately tomentose abaxially; petals ca. 3 mm long, 3-lobed with central lobe narrower and ± entire, lateral lobes broader and 2–3 further laciniate (laciniae threadlike), white, glabrous, or papillose; stamens 8–10, filaments ca. 2 mm long, incurved, anthers broadly ovoid, 0.3–0.4 mm long; styles 4–5, free, ca. 1.5 mm long, base conical, 0.5 mm in diam., pubescent with yellowish hairs ca. 0.06 mm long, distally attenuate and recurved, stigmas globose and papillose. Fruit a drupe, ellipsoid, ca. 3.5 cm long, 2 cm in diam., attenuate toward both ends, apex with persistent sepals.

Flowering and fruiting: —Flowering in June or earlier; fruiting in August–December.

Habitat and distribution: —In bushlands or dry open forests; ca. 1200–2000 m. Angola (Huambo, Zaire) ; Burundi (Ruyigi) ; Democratic Republic of the Congo (Katanga); Tanzania (Kagera, Kigoma, Mwanza, Rukwa, Tabora) ; Zambia (Central, Copperbelt, Luapula, Western ) ( Figure 11 ) .

Vernacular name and local usage: — Tanzania: takana kuzipa; mufungo; fruits edible.

Taxonomic notes: —When Anisophyllea boehmii was published ( Engler 1895), it was not compared with any other species. Its similarity with A. buchneri in sharing the structure of styles could be inferred from Engler (1921), but it can be easily distinguished by the ascending rachis of inflorescences. It also shares some resemblance with A. gossweileri in morphology of shoots and leaves, from which it differs in longer and more obvious hairs on young branches and leaves. The specimens from Katanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo that bear the two unpublished names, i.e., Ringoet s.n. at K with the name “ A. ferruginea Rolfe ”, non Ding Hou (1958), and Rogers 26340 at BR, K, P, and Z with the name “ A. rogersii ”, are all corresponding to the morphology of A. boehmii ( Duvigneaud & Dewit 1950, Lewis 1956). However, we are not sure about the identity of A. boehmii f. rotundifolia Duvigneaud & Dewit (1950: 927) since we did not find the type of this name, Duvigneaud 1237A, which was also collected from Katanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the protologue of A. boehmii f. rotundifolia the only specimen cited is Böhm no. 80 (at B), which was collected in “Pori auf der Höhe zwischen dem Mgengeve und Bamanda” ( Engler 1895), a place somewhere in the now Tabora region of Tanzania ( Engler 1921). Since no original type material available at present and we can not verify the existence of any duplicates or the possibility that all have been destroyed ( Lewis 1956).

24 • Phytotaxa 229 (1) © 2015 Magnolia Press

CHEN ET AL.

A neotype of Anisophyllea boehmii is needed. It would be better to designate the neotype from material as close as possible to the original type locality, which might be a bushland somewhere near Magengwe at about 5°08’ S, 32°45’E (Roy E. Gereau, pers. comm.) . There is a collection, Bullock 3218, from Kigoma region,

MONOGRAPH OF ANISOPHYLLEACEAE

Phytotaxa 229 (1) © 2015 Magnolia Press • 25 Tanzania, one of the nearest regions of the type locality, on which part of its illustrations in Flora of Tropical East Africa ( Lewis 1956) and Flora Zambesiaca ( Torre & Gonçalves 1978) were based. Bullock 3218 would be an ideal choice for the neotype of A. boehmii , but we could not find it. Here we choose Y. S. Abeid & et al. 1192 (MO!) from Rukwa, Tanzania as the neotype of A. boehmii . The distribution of A. boehmii in Tanzania and Zambia follows Lewis (1956) and Torre & Gonçalves (1978).

Additional specimens examined: — ANGOLA. Huambo: Bailundo, Benguella , 1530 m, 1906, Wellman s.n. ( K) . BURUNDI. Ruyigi: Hesse-Ruyigi, 11 August 1951, Michel et Reed 89 ( MO); Mosse-Ruyigi , 14 September 1951, Michel et Reed 142 ( MO); Canguso , 1700 m, 29 October 1966, J . Lewalle 1191 ( MO); Gigaro Mosso , 1300 m, 18 September 1973, M . Reekmans 2686 ( MO); Mpinga , 2000 m, 17 September 1973, M . Reekmans 2681 ( MO); Musongati , 1700 m, 10 May 1974, M . Reekmans 3439 ( MO). DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: Katanga: Elisabethville, November 1949, Schmitz 2446 ( K); Saunme Loisee , 1220 m, 08 June 1959, Lukuesa M . 641 ( BR); ca. 1200 m, June 1920, F. A . Rogers 26340 ( BR, K, P, Z); Without locality, no date, A. Ringoet 56, s.n. ( K). TANZANIA. Kagera: Biharamulo, 13 November 1948, J . Jord 857 A ( K); Rukwa: Sumbawanga Rural, Loazi , 08°17’23”S 031°13’00”E, 1412 m, 22 August 2005, SHCP 198 ( MO); Lwanji, 08°19’01”S 031°10’57”E, 1238 m, 15 August 2005, SHCP 516 ( MO); Sumbawanga Rural, Loazi, 08°17’23”S 031°13’00”E, 1412 m, 22 August 2005, SHCP 198 ( MO); 53 km on Uvinza-Mpanda road, 05°26’S 030°30’E, alt. 1575 m, Sally Bidgood, G . Leliyo & K. Vollesen 4732 ( MO); Mpanda-Uvinza road, Uzondo Plateau , 05°29’S 030°32’E, 1675 m, Sally Bidgood, G . Leliyo & K. Vollesen 4551 ( MO); Nkasi, Lwafi , 07°44’45”S 030°56’09”E, 1626 m, 24 August 2005, SHCP 307 ( MO) . ZAIRE. Claire Forest , Campus Kasapa, 23 November 1983, F . Malaisse 12893 ( MO). ZAMBIA. Copperbelt: Kitwe, Mwekera Forestry Training School , 12°51’S 028°21’E, 27 April 1989, G . Pope, A. R-Smith, & D. Goyden 2220 ( K); Kitwe, 04 January 1973, D. B . Fanshawe 11.738 ( K); Mufulira, 03 June 1934, Eyles 8188 ( K) .

Figures

FIGURE 10. Anisophyllea boehmii Engler. —A. Leafy branch with fruits (Y. S. Abeid et al. 1192; neotype, MO-5775687). —B. Portion of flowering branch (F. A. Rogers 26340; K-000350178).

FIGURE 11. Geographical distribution of Anisophyllea boehmii Engler.