Annea Mackinder & Wieringa, 2013

Mackinder, Barbara A. & Wieringa, Jan J., 2013, Annea gen. nov. (Detarieae, Caesalpinioideae, Leguminosae): a home for two species long misplaced in Hymenostegia sensu lato, Phytotaxa 142 (1), pp. 1-14 : 3-4

Annea Mackinder & Wieringa gen. nov.

Shrubs or trees to 25 m. Leaves paripinnate, 1–2-jugate, when 2-jugate the distal pair conspicuously larger than the proximal pair, leaf rachis winged or not. Bud scales absent. Leaflets sessile, ovate to rhombate, falcate, glabrous above, glabrous or almost so below, mid-vein sub-central. Crater-like glands usually present on the abaxial leaflet surface. Inflorescence a lax terminal or axillary raceme. Bracts caducous or persisting just until anthesis, bracteoles paired, showy, persistent, borne in the upper third or at the apex of the pedicel. Sepals 4, reflexed after anthesis, slightly longer than the hypanthium. Petals 5, adaxial and lateral petals conspicuous, similar in size, abaxials rudimentary. Stamens 10, filaments free, anthers dorsifixed, dehiscing by slits. Ovary stipitate, stipe fused to adaxial hypanthium wall, indumentum sparse on the faces, denser on the margins, stigma terminal, small, peltate. Pod compressed, glabrous, obliquely triangular, obovate to semi-circular, broadest at the middle or towards the apex the upper margin curving to almost straight, not winged, the lower margin deeply rounded, sometimes curving sharply upwards to the apex, valves revolute after dehiscence (explosive dehiscence). Seeds 1–2, ovoid or ellipsoid, compressed. Seedlings: germination epigeal, first and subsequent seedling leaves alternate.

Type: Cynometra laxiflora . For type specimen details see below.

Distribution:— Tropical Africa. Guineo-Congolian distribution: 2 species. Liberia, Côte D’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola (including Cabinda) ( Fig. 1 ). The combined geographic distribution of the two species is wide but their ranges do not overlap.

Etymology:— Named for Professor Anne Bruneau of University of Montreal, Canada. She has been the leading authority in Caesalpinioideae phylogenetics for over a decade. Her work and that of her students has led to the establishment of a phylogenetic framework for the subfamily creating a firm foundation on which studies of smaller taxonomic breadth such as this can rest. Bruneau made several collections of Annea afzelii during fieldwork in Cameroon in 1996, one of which was used in the preparation of the illustration of A. afzelii presented in this paper.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Distribution of the genus Annea. Collecting localities of A. afzelii and A. laxiflora are denoted by green and red dots respectively.