Uvariopsis guineensis Keay, Kew Bull. 7(2): 152 (1952)

Dagallier, Leo-Paul M. J., Mbago, Frank M., Couderc, Marie, Gaudeul, Myriam, Grall, Aurelie, Loup, Caroline, Wieringa, Jan J., Sonke, Bonaventure & Couvreur, Thomas L. P., 2023, Phylogenomic inference of the African tribe Monodoreae (Annonaceae) and taxonomic revision of Dennettia, Uvariodendron and Uvariopsis, PhytoKeys 233, pp. 1-200 : 1

Uvariopsis guineensis Keay, Kew Bull. 7(2): 152 (1952)

Figs 65 , 66

≡ Uvaria spectabilis A.Chev., Explor. Bot. Afrique Occ. Franc. i. 7 (1920). Type. Ivory Coast - Danané • A.J.B. Chevalier 21305 (holotype: P! (P00362614), sheet here designated; isotype: P! (P00362612)), Haut Cavally, Pays des Byolas, entre Danané et Goutokouma; 7°16'N, 8°09'W; 25 Apr. 1909.

= Uvariopsis globiflora Keay; syn. nov. concerning Uvariopsis guineensis var. globiflora (see details under this variety).

Description.

Tree 2.5-9 m tall, D.B.H 4-12 cm; young branches sparsely pubescent to glabrous, old branches glabrous. Petiole 1.5-5 mm long, 1.5-3.5 mm wide, sparsely pubescent to glabrous. Leaf lamina 110-310 mm long, 45-108 mm wide, length:width ratio 2.3-4.2, elliptic to oblong to obovate, coriaceous, base acute to rounded, apex attenuate to acuminate, acumen 9-30 mm long, surface above glabrous, surface below glabrous; midrib impressed above, raised below, glabrous above, sparsely pubescent to glabrous below; secondary veins 7-14 pairs, brochidodromous, impressed above, raised below; tertiary veins reticulate. Flowers unisexual, male and female flowers dimorphic, on same individuals (plant monoecious). Flower buds globose to oblate. Male inflorescences borne on trunk, axillary or terminal, composed of 1 flower. Peduncle inconspicuous. Flower pedicel 5-16 mm long, 1-2 mm in diameter, sparsely pubescent. Bracts 1 at base and 1 towards the middle or lower half of the pedicel, upper bract 1-3.5 mm long, 1-3.5 mm wide, broadly ovate, adpressed, semi-clasping the pedicel, pubescent outside, glabrous inside. Sepals 2, 1-3 mm long, 2-7 mm wide, broadly ovate, free to basally fused, pubescent to sparsely pubescent outside, glabrous inside, yellowish green. Petals 4, 7-17 mm long, 5-17 mm wide, length:width ratio 0.9-1.4, broadly ovate, free to fused at base over 30-50% of their length, pubescent to sparsely pubescent outside, glabrous inside, pale greenish to cream outside, greenish cream to cream with purplish base inside. Stamens number unknown, 0.3-1 mm long, 0.2-0.3 mm wide, anthers linear, connective prolongation truncate. Female inflorescences borne on trunk, axillary or terminal, composed of 1 flower. Flower pedicel 10-65 mm long, 1-2 mm in diameter, sparsely pubescent. Bracts 1 to 3 at base and 1 towards the middle or lower half of the pedicel, upper bract 1-3.5 mm long, 1-3.5 mm wide, broadly ovate, adpressed, semi clasping the pedicel, pubescent outside, glabrous inside. Sepals 2, 1-6 mm long, 2-10 mm wide, broadly ovate, free to basally fused, sparsely pubescent to pubescent outside, glabrous inside, yellowish green. Petals 4, 9-24 mm long, 7-22 mm wide, length:width ratio 0.9-1.4, broadly ovate, free to fused at base over 30-50% of their length, pubescent to sparsely pubescent outside, glabrous inside, pale greenish to cream outside, greenish cream to cream with purplish base inside. Carpels 10 to 50, 2-5 mm long, 0.6-1.1 mm wide, pubescent to velutinous, free; stigma ca. 0.5 mm long, 0.5-0.8 mm wide, coiled. Fruiting pedicel 17-69 mm long, 1.5-4.5 mm in diameter, sparsely pubescent to glabrous. Monocarps, 2-10, 20-70 (90) mm long, 12-25 mm wide, length:width ratio 1.7-3.3 (measures taken from both dried fruits and their associated specimen label, note that monocarps seem to sink when drying), cylindrical, smooth, straight to slightly curved, with a longitudinal ridge, sparsely pubescent to glabrous, dull olive green to red to brown, sessile to shortly stipitate; stipe up to 3 mm long, 2-6 mm wide, pubescent to glabrous. Seeds 2-22 per monocarp, biseriate, 12-17 mm long, 10-13 mm wide, in a yellow pulp with strong aniseed scent.

Distribution.

Endemic to Upper Guinean Domain of the Guineo-Congolian Region: Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone.

Habitat and ecology.

Lowland mature or secondary rain forests. Altitude: 100-950 m asl.

Phenology.

Flowers collected from March to May and from September to December. Fruits collected from March to July and in September.

Notes.

Up. guineensis resembles Up. dioica , Up. pedunculosa , and Up. solheidii in having elliptic to oblong to obovate leaves, with acute to rounded base and attenuate to acuminate apex. Young branches and petioles of Up. guineensis are sparsely pubescent to glabrous (vs. pubescent to glabrous in Up. dioica and Up. pedunculosa , and tomentose to shortly tomentose in Up. solhdeidii ). Up. guineensis has less than 50 carpels (vs. more than 50 in Up. dioica and Up. pedunculosa ), and its monocarps are smooth with a single longitudinal ridge (vs. with longitudinal and transversal ridges in Up. solheidii and verrucose in Up. pedunculosa ). Here we make the names Ud. guineensis and Ud. globiflora synonyms. They have traditionally been discriminated based on the position of their flowers and the fusion of the petals, with Ud. globiflora having axillary or terminal flowers and free petals and Ud. guineensis having flowers borne on trunk (cauliflory) and fused petals ( Keay 1952). The reliability of the position of the flowers is a character that has been previously discussed in the genus Uvariodendron and has been concluded as being an unreliable character ( Le Thomas 1967, 1969). Keay himself, who described Ud. globiflora , already noticed that "it is [ …] possible that cauliflory may occur in Ud. globiflora " ( Keay 1952). Indeed, among the specimens we observed, we found specimens with flowers both on trunk and axillary (e.g. notes on Morton A 4247, identified as Ud. globiflora , say "flowers on trunks, branches and amongst leaves"), or with characters of both Ud. globiflora and Ud. guineensis (e.g. Schmidt 2070, identified as Ud. globiflora , has both axillary flowers and fused petals), rendering their placement in one or the other species equivocal. Hawthorne & Jongkind ( Hawthorne and Jongkind 2006) also underlined this and already treated the names Ud. guineensis and Ud. globiflora as synonyms. Our results further support this, as specimens named as Ud. guineensis and Ud. globiflora form a monphyletic group with strong support and subtended by a relatively long branch in our phylogenetic analyses (Fig. 1 , Suppl. materials 1, 2). To account for a morphotype with free petals, we make Ud. globiflora a variety of Ud. guineensis as Ud. guineensis var. globiflora .

Conservation status.

This species is widespread in West Africa, from Sierra Leone to Ghana. It has been assessed as Least Concern LC ( Harvey-Brown 2019c).

Figures

Figure 1. Phylogenetic trees of the Monodoreae inferred with ASTRAL, based on 334 nuclear genes trees. The branch support is given as local posterior probability (LPP) in three shades of greys. For the details on the specimens see Suppl. material 3. Insets: flowers of A Ophrypetalum odoratum (Couvreur 82) B Sanrafaelia ruffonammari (Dagallier 31) C Asteranthe asterias (Dagallier 10) D Hexalobus crispiflorus (no specimen associated) E Uvariastrum zenkeri (no specimen associated) F Isolona hexaloba (no specimen associated) G I. cauliflora (Dagallier 44) H Monodora grandidieri (Dagallier 26) I M. myristica (living specimen at NY conservatory) J M. tenuifolia (Couvreur 1019) K Mischogyne elliotana (no specimen associated) L Uvariodendron gorgonis (Dagallier 38) M Ud. molundense (Bidault 2222) N Ud. connivens (Couvreur 1016) O Ud. var. fuscum (Couvreur 990) P Uvariopsis congensis (Lachenaud 1384) Q Up. lovettiana (Couvreur 97 b) R Up. bakeriana (Couvreur 1000) S Up. submontana (Couvreur 627) T Up. pedunculosa (Couvreur 878). Photos CC BY-NC 4.0 A, D-F, J, N, O, Q-T Thomas Couvreur B, C, G-I, L Leo-Paul Dagallier K Carel Jongkind M Ehoarn Bidault P Olivier Lachenaud.

Figure 65. Uvariopsis guineensis Keay A leaf, lower side B leaf, upper side C fruits on trunk D old female flower, petals fallen, side view E flower, semi-bottom view F detail of female flower, petals removed, side view G male flower, top view H monocarp, longitudinal cut. A, B, D-F Bidault 4798 C, H Bidault 632 G Koivogui 250. Photos A-G Ehoarn Bidault (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Figure 66. Distribution map of Uvariopsis guineensis. Shades of grey represent elevation, from white (sea level) to darker grey (higher elevation). The inset shows the extent of the map over Africa.