Vepris laurifolia (Hutch. & Dalziel) Lachenaud & Onana, 2021

Lachenaud, Olivier & Onana, Jean-Michel, 2021, The West and Central African species of Vepris Comm. ex A. Juss. (Rutaceae) with simple or unifoliolate leaves, including two new combinations, Adansonia (3) 43 (10), pp. 107-116 : 112-114

Vepris laurifolia (Hutch. & Dalziel) O.Lachenaud, comb. nov.

Garcinia laurifolia Hutch. & Dalziel , Flora of West Tropical Africa , ed. 1, 1(1): 236 ( Hutchinson & Dalziel 1927). —

Type: Guinea (see note). Ninia , Talla Hills, 17.II.1892 (imm. fr.), Scott-Elliott 4806 (holo-, BM [ BM000798360 ]).

Vepris felicis Breteler, Kew Bulletin 50: 131 ( Breteler 1995), syn. nov. —

Type: Liberia. Central Province, c. 5 km SE of Zuole, 2.IV.1962 (male fl.), J.J.F.E. de Wilde & Voorhoeve 3754 (holo-, WAG; iso-, A n.v., B n.v., BR, K [ K000800952 ], P n.v.).

DISTRIBUTION. — This species occurs in a few scattered localities in southern Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and extreme western Ivory Coast ( Fig. 2 ).

HABITAT. — Primary and secondary forest, sometimes in galleries, up to 543 m in altitude.

PHENOLOGY. — Flowers from October to December and in April- May; fruits in May (very young ones in February).

PRELIMINARY CONSERVATION ASSESSMENT. — Vulnerable [VU B2ab(ii, iii, iv, v)]. Vepris laurifolia (Hutch. & Dalziel) O.Lachenaud , comb. nov. is a shrub occurring in lowland forest from coastal Guinea to western Ivory Coast. It is known from ten herbarium specimens collected between 1892 and 2019, one of which was not considered for this assessment since its locality cannot be precisely traced. Based on the remaining nine collections, its extent of occurrence (EOO) is estimated to be 45 737 km ² (exceeding the limit for Vulnerable status under criterion B1) and its area of occupancy (AOO) to be 36 km ², within the limit for Endangered status under criterion B2. These collections represent nine unique occurrences, six subpopulations, and seven locations in the sense of IUCN. Only one subpopulation is protected in the Forêt Classée de Ziama ( Guinea), while most of the rest occurs in areas where deforestation for agriculture is apparent from satellite images, and one in Sierra Leone is to be flooded by the construction of a dam. A decline in the extent and quality of habitat, AOO, number of subpopulations and number of individuals is therefore expected. Based on this decline and the low number of locations (seven), the species qualifies for Vulnerable status under the conditions B2ab(ii, iii, iv, v).

OTHER STUDIED MATERIAL. — Guinea. Sérédou , 2.XII.1964 (male & female fl.), Fora 20 ( BR); Benna, XI.1937 (male fl.), Jacques-Félix 2096 (P06601076, P06601077); vallée du Badabou, au pied du Kakoulima, X.1954 (fl. buds), Schnell 7568 (K); Forêt Ziama, 7.XII.2019 (male fl. buds), Yarwoah & Konaté 192 ( BRLU n.v., MO, P n.v., SERG n.v.).

15° SENEGAL NIGER MALI BURKINA FASO CHAD GUINEA 10° BENIN SIERRA NIGERIA A LEONE CÔTE GHAN TOGO LIBERI D’IVOIRE CAMEROON CENTRAL AFRICAN 5°N A REP. 0° SÃO TOMÉ CONGO AND PRINCIPE GABON Vepris africana (Hook.f.) O.Lachenaud & Onana, comb. nov. DEM. REP. 5°S Vepris laurifolia (Hutch. & Dalziel) O.Lachenaud, comb. nov. CONGO Vepris welwitschii (Hiern) Exell SAINT HELENA ANGOLA 10° 15° 10° 5°W 0° 5°E 10° 15° 20°

Sierra Leone. SE of Fadugu, along Seli (Rokel) River , just downstream of proposed dam near Yiben village, 9°19’43.4”N, 11°41’14.8”W, 23.IV.2014 (fl. buds), van der Burgt et al. 1861 (K, P00784732); SE of Fadugu, along Seli (Rokel) River , 3 km upstream of proposed dam (to be flooded), 9°18’39.5”N, 11°41’25.6”W, 24.IV.2014 (st.), van der Burgt et al. 1862 (K); along the Seli River , E of Fadugu, upstream of Yiben village , 9°19’48.1”N, 11°41’25.6”W, 23.V.2014 (female fl. & fr.), Momoh 96 (K, WAG).

Ivory Coast. 16 km SW of Toulepleu , 6°28’N, 8°31’W, 9.IX.1975 (fr.), Beentje 936 ( WAG).

DESCRIPTION

Shrub

1-4 m high, ramose.

Twigs

Cylindrical, c. 2 mm thick, puberulous to glabrous.

Leaves

Alternate or often opposite, simple; petiole (0.2-) 0.5-2.7 cm long, canaliculate above or subterete, usually bipulvinate, not articulate at apex, puberulous to glabrous; lamina elliptic, (5.5-)8-26 × (2-) 2.6-7.6 cm, acute to obtuse at base, acuminate at apex, ± coriaceous, entirely glabrous, drying dull greyish-green above and yellowish green below; midrib slightly canaliculate above; secondary veins 9-18 pairs, only slightly more apparent than tertiaries, inserted almost at a right angle to the midrib and forming regular arches 1-5 mm from the leaf margin; tertiary veins concolorous and prominent on lower leaf surface, reticulate, forming areolae 1.5-2 mm wide; glandular dots dense, conspicuous to hardly distinct on lower leaf surface, 2-5 per mm².

Flowers

Dioecious.

Male inflorescences

Terminal or axillary, 1-3 cm long, 6- to 30-flowered, thyrsoid with flowers borne in (sometimes very short) lateral cymules, the axes puberulous; bracts linear to narrowly triangular, 0.7- 1.5 mm long.

Male flowers

4-merous; pedicel 1-2 mm long, puberulous or glabrous; calyx cupular, 0.5 × 2 mm, with slightly angular and ciliolate margin, otherwise glabrous; bud subglobose to depressed-ovate, 1.5-2 × 1.5-2.5 mm, acute to obtuse at apex; petals ovate, 2.5-4 × 1.5-1.7 mm, free to connate at base, slightly acute at apex, glabrous, erect at anthesis; stamens 8, glabrous, with linear filaments c. 1.5 mm long and elliptic anthers c. 0.6 × 0.4 mm; intrastaminal disk 8-crenate in outline, c. 1.5 mm in diameter, densely hirsute; pistillode shortly umbonate, <1 mm long.

Female inflorescences

Terminal or axillary, 1-2.5 cm long, 7-8-flowered, racemose or paniculate with very short ramifications <0.1 cm long, the flowers well apart from each other, the axes puberulous; bracts triangular, 0.5-0.8 mm.

Female flowers

4-merous; pedicel 1.5-4.5 mm long; calyx cupular, 0.8-1 × 2-2.5 mm, slightly angular with margin often splitting, glabrous except ciliolate margin; bud not seen; petals ovate, 4-5 × 1.3-2 mm, free to connate at base, acute at apex, glabrous, erect at anthesis; stamens apparently absent; ovary 4-locular with fused carpels, 4-lobed in outline, obovoid to subglobose, 1.4-2 × 1.5-1.7 mm, pubescent with stiff appressed hairs, with a shortly stipitate 4-lobed stigma 0.7-1.3 × 1-1.5 mm.

Fruits Orange, broader than long and slightly 4-lobed, 11-14 × 17-19 mm, glabrous, finely depressed-punctate, on pedicel 3-4 mm long; pericarp c. 0.5 mm thick when dry; seed solitary, c. 10 × 8 mm, with endocarp thinly crustaceous, reticulate and adhering to the pericarp.

REMARKS

For illustrations of this species see Breteler (1995) and Hawthorne & Jongkind (2006). The petals of male flowers were originally described as connate at base ( Breteler 1995) but in Fora 20 appear to be quite free; a similar variation is seen in the female flowers.

The type locality of V. laurifolia (Hutch. & Dalziel) O.Lachenaud , comb. nov., Ninia, which cannot be traced precisely, lies in Guinea ( Gledhill 1969: 427) and not in Sierra Leone as originally cited by Hutchinson & Dalziel (1927). However, the species does occur in Sierra Leone, where it has been recently collected.

Figures

FIG. 2. — Distribution map of Vepris africana (Hook.f.) O.Lachenaud & Onana, comb. nov. (·), V. laurifolia (Hutch. & Dalziel) O.Lachenaud, comb. nov. (●) and V. welwitschii (Hiern) Exell (▲).