Ceropegia cyperifolia Bruyns

Bruyns, Peter V., Klak, Cornelia & Hanáček, Pavel, 2018, An account of Ceropegia sect. Chamaesiphon (Apocynaceae) in Moçambique with new records and two new species, Phytotaxa 364 (2), pp. 111-135 : 116-118

Ceropegia cyperifolia Bruyns , spec nov. ( Figs. 3 , 4)

Differs from C. elliptica (Richard 1851: 49) Bruyns in Bruyns et al. (2018: 141) by the shallow, plate-like corolla-tube and by the deep incisions in the outer coronal lobes which reach nearly to the base of the gynostegium.

Type:— Moçambique, 40 km south of Lichinga (1335 CA), 1230 m, 25 Nov. 2000, Bruyns 8642 (holotype BOL!, isotypes E!, MO!).

Perennial geophytic herb 5–10 × 10–15 cm, arising from an underground flattened discoid tuber 40–80 mm diam. Stem annual, usually branched near base with branches spreading close to ground, slender, green with reddish patches, terete, sparsely puberulous. Leaves ± sessile, narrowly linear, glabrous, 40–80 × ± 1 mm, canaliculate, acute. Inflorescences several per plant, 8- to 11-flowered in dense clusters alongside nodes and terminating branches, flowers opening in quick succession to ± simultaneously, with mushroomy ammonia-like smell; sessile, sparsely puberulous; pedicel 3–4 × ± 1 mm, sparsely puberulous; sepals lanceolate, green, ± 4.5 mm long and 1.5 mm broad at base, attenuate, sparsely puberulous along midrib. Corolla ± rotate, 35–40 mm diam., outside pale green spotted with purple-red, glabrous and papillate except towards base of tube; inside green to greenish brown on lobes ringed transversely with purple-brown on white below bases of lobes, glabrous; tube ± 3 mm deep and 8 mm broad, shallowly bowl-shaped; lobes widely spreading, with deltate base ± 5 mm broad narrowing within ± 4 mm to 1–1.5 mm then slender and ± filiform, ± 15 mm long. Corona 2-seriate, ± 2.5 mm tall and 4.5 mm broad, without basal stipe; outer series ± cup-like, of five lobes ± 1.5 mm tall laterally fused to inner series, each divided in middle nearly right to base into deltate erect slightly converging teeth less than height of anthers, glabrous outside and with dense tuft of straight white hairs inside near apices of teeth, red becoming pale yellow towards base; inner series of 5 linear-clavate obtuse lobules rising from fusion with outer series, pressed to backs of anthers and slightly exceeding them, ± 1 mm long, dorsally slightly swollen and wrinkled towards bases, pale yellow suffused with red towards base, glabrous. Follicles and seeds unknown.

Habitat and Distribution:— Ceropegia cyperifolia inhabits flat patches of shallow, gravelly soil on low granitic domes where it occurs with scattered shrubs of Xerophyta and small members of the Commelinaceae and Cyperaceae and small grasses. It is usually locally common. It is known from four localities separated by nearly 200 km, all within Niassa Province in northern Moçambique. These are areas of high rainfall and only on exposed spots on rocky outcrops are a few succulents such as Aloe and Kalanchoe Adanson (1763: 248) present.

Discussion:— Ceropegia elliptica was described from a collection of Quartin Dillon, made on humid hills near the Tacazze River in northern Ethiopia. Only one other collection is known from this area ( Gilbert 2003), though the species is widely but very scantily recorded in Ethiopia. Bullock (1963) listed some specimens from Sudan and also included material from near Nairobi, Kenya. The inclusion of plants from Nairobi was not supported by Gilbert (2003), although no reasons were given for this opinion.

The present new species also produces several short branches close to the ground, narrow glabrous leaves and fairly large flowers with long, slender lobes and so was believed to belong to Ceropegia elliptica . The collection Bruyns 8642 was sequenced under the name Brachystelma lineare Richard (1851: 49) in Bruyns et al. (2015). However, a closer examination of this material shows that it is probably distinct from C. elliptica . In particular, Richard (1851) and the figure that accompanied this (Richard, 1851: t. 72) indicated that C. elliptica was relatively few-flowered (flowers solitary or in pairs), the flowers had an urceolate tube about as broad as long and a corona with a cupular structure apparently without deep incisions opposite the guide-rails. In the present new species the corolla has a shallowly plate-like tube whose sides spread well away from the gynostegium. The outer series of coronal lobes is deeply incised opposite the guide-rails right to the base of the gynostegium.

This species is named for the clusters of narrow leaves bearing a marked resemblance to the small sedges that share its habitat. The flowers emit a peculiar odour suggesting a mixture of mushrooms and ammonia. It is also a member of the ‘large-flowered tropical group’ ( Bruyns et al. 2015: fig. 1).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Ceropegia cyperifolia A, face view of flower (scale 5 mm); B, side view of part of dissected flower (scale 2 mm); C, side view of gynostegium (scale of D = 1 mm); D, face view of gynostegium (scale 1 mm); E, pollinarium (scale of D = 0.25 mm). Drawn from: Bruyns 8642 (BOL, E, MO).