Xylopia Section Neoxylopia Engler & Diels, Monogr. afrik. Pflanzen-Fam. 6: 58. 1901.

Johnson, David M. & Murray, Nancy A., 2018, A revision of Xylopia L. (Annonaceae): the species of Tropical Africa, PhytoKeys 97, pp. 1-252 : 32

I. Xylopia Section Neoxylopia Engler & Diels, Monogr. afrik. Pflanzen-Fam. 6: 58. 1901.

Type.

Xylopia africana (Bentham) Oliver (lectotype designated in Stull et al. 2017, p. 221).

Description.

Nodes with branches from 2-3 axillary buds; outer petals ovate or linear, if outer petals linear then over four times as long as the inner petals; inner petals ovate, lacking differentiated fleshy basal margins; anther connectives shieldlike at apex, overhanging the anther thecae, rarely with the center formed into a conical point; staminal cone rudimentary, surrounding only the bases of the ovaries, rim laciniate; carpels 3-15, the stigmas free to connivent, marked with warts, tubercles, or glandular appendages; aril brushlike; seed coat smooth, sarcotesta absent. Four species in Tropical Africa.

Notes.

The section was defined by Engler and Diels primarily on the basis of the distinctive aril. Three of the four species classified in this section are known to have such an aril. Fruits and seeds of the fourth species, X. globosa , are unknown, but the floral morphology of the species is strikingly similar to that of other species in the section, and molecular analysis ( Stull et al. 2017) placed it as sister to X. staudtii . Stilt roots are another feature of species in this section: Xylopia africana , X. rubescens , and X. staudtii are regularly described as having such roots, but they have not been confirmed for X. globosa .