Dicliptera verticillata (Forssk.) C. Chr.

Daniel, Thomas F., 2020, Notes on the Vascular Flora of the Island of Príncipe (São Tomé and Príncipe) in the Gulf of Guinea, Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 66 (15), pp. 341-352 : 345

Dicliptera verticillata (Forssk.) C. Chr.

Príncipe: N end of island, from cacao plantation along road 1.6 (air) km S of Bom Bom Island (01°40.897ʹN, 007°24.115ʹE, 65 m) to mouth of Água Grande at S end of Praia Bom Bom (01°41.390ʹN, 007°23.932ʹE, sea level), plantation grounds and moist lowland evergreen forest, 18 IV 2013 (sterile) , T. Daniel & J. Shevock 11993 ( CAS) .

Sterile plants were locally frequent at an elevation of about 40 meters on a disturbed site. The species ( Fig. 2 ) is readily recognizable by its 6-angled stems with a ± dense cluster of elongate (up to 3.5 mm), flexuose, and eglandular trichomes at the vegetative nodes. Although collected numerous times from several sites on São Tomé, this appears to be only the second collection of the species on Príncipe (Daniel and Figueiredo 2009). The species was previously collected on that island at Sundi (i.e., T. Monod 12073 at COI), ca. 2.5 to 3 km to the southwest of the collection noted above. Elsewhere in the Gulf of Guinea, D. verticillata also occurs on both Bioko and Annobón ( Velayos et al. 2013a, b).

Daniel and Figueiredo (2009:652 and fig. 2 E) illustrated and noted that corollas of most collections of D. verticillata collected on São Tomé were rotated 90° so that they appeared to be oriented on their sides. Plants grown from seed of Daniel 11122 from that island eventually exhibit- ed corollas resupinate both 90° and 180° ( Fig. 2 ). The orientation of corollas of plants on Príncipe remains unknown.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Miscellaneous Acanthaceae. Brillantaisia owariensis (left; Daniel s.n., from plants cultivated at San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers), leaf and living flowers. Dicliptera verticillata (top right), inflorescence with flower (corolla resupinate 180°; cultivated at San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers from seed of Daniel 11122 collected on São Tomé). Phaulopsis micrantha (bottom right), axillary flower (Daniel 11145, from São Tomé, field photo by W. Eckerman). Photos by the author except as noted.