Uapaca ambanjensis Leandri

Mcpherson, Gordon, 2011, A review of Madagascan Uapaca (Euphorbiaceae s. l.), Adansonia (3) 33 (2), pp. 221-231 : 223-224

1. Uapaca ambanjensis Leandri

Mémoires de l’Institut scientifique de Madagascar, Série B, Biologie végétale 8: 256 (1957).

TYPUS. — Madagascar. Prov. Antsiranana, Andampy, près d’Ambanja , 100-200 m, 17.IX.1954, fr., Service forestier 10674 (lecto-, P [sheet P00132895 ], here designated; isolecto-, MO) .

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Madagascar. Prov. Antsiranana, Lokobe RN, 13°24’40”S, 048°19’07”E, 20-200 m, 20.IV.1994, Antilahimena 86 ( MO, P, TAN) . — Eod. loc., 5 km SE of Hell Ville , 13°25’S, 048°18’E, 150 m, 28. I.1992, Birkinshaw 102 ( MO, P) . — Eod. loc., 200 m, 25.II.1992, Birkinshaw 119 ( MO, P, TAN) . — Manongarivo, 14°04’S, 048°17’E, 300 m, 5.IX.1997, Gautier et al. 3248 ( MO, P) . — Ampondrabe, 13°33’S, 048°33’E, 300 m, 3.X.1952, Service forestier 5839 ( P) . — Andranomatavy-Ambanja, 13°57’30”S, 047°58’30”E, 668 m, 11.X.1953, Service forestier 7691 ( MO, P) . — Andampy, 14°06’10”S, 048°15’30”, 100-200 m, 17.IX.1954, Service forestier 10674 ( MO, P) .

DESCRIPTION

Tree 8-25 m; stilt roots usually present but occasionally absent; leaf-bearing twigs 2.5-6(-10) mm

in diameter, solid. Leaf blades narrowly oblong or narrowly obovate to obovate, (4-) 10-20 cm long, (1.5-) 2.5-8.5 cm wide, base cuneate to attenuate, apex obtuse, secondary veins 6-8 on each side of the midrib, readily visible, tertiary veins subscalariform, visible; petioles (0.5-)1.0-2.7(-4.0) cm long. Staminate peduncles 2.5-4.5 cm long; petaloid bracts (few seen) 4-10 in number, 10-14 mm long, 6-8 mm wide, the inner ones sometimes short-pubescent; head of flowers 10-12 mm in diameter excluding the exserted stamens; staminodes typically present, pistillode glabrous to sparsely pubescent on the exposed distal surface. Pistillate peduncles 1.1-4.5 cm long; petaloid bracts (few seen) 4-7 in number, 7-10 mm long, c. 6 mm wide, calyx c. 5.5 mm in diameter in flower, glabrous abaxially, in fruit 2-3 mm high, 6-8(-10) mm in diameter, entire or somewhat lobed and often undulate, often pubescent within at junction with axis; ovary glabrous, fruit 2.5-3.0 cm long, 2.2-2.5 cm in diameter, glabrous, yellow, apex pointed or rounded.

DISTRIBUTION

Northwestern Madagascar at elevations of 20- 700 m.

REMARKS

Distinguished by its relatively narrow and nonlustrous leaves with subscalariform tertiary venation, its large glabrous pistillate calyx that is often pubescent within at its junction with the floral axis, and its glabrous ovary. The leaves of this species most closely resemble those of U. littoralis , but that species does not exhibit subscalariform venation.