Micronychia danguyana H. Perrier

Randrianasolo, Armand, 2000, A taxonomic revision of the Malagasy endemic genus Micronychia (Anacardiaceae), Adansonia (3) 22 (1), pp. 145-155 : 148-149

Micronychia danguyana H. Perrier

Mém. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 18: 267 (1944). — Lectotype (here designated): Decary 5034, Madagascar, Fianarantsoa Prov., Farafangana, Befotaka , 20 Aug. 1926, fl. (P!).

Trees, ca. 6-9 m tall; young twigs ferrugineous pubescent, bark with translucide latex. Leaves coriaceous, persistent; blades obovate to elliptic, 8.5-22 cm long, 4.5-11 cm wide, apex rounded, base cuneate, margin entire; adaxial surface ferrugineous pubescent when young, glabrescent and pubescent only on the veins and margin when older, abaxial surface pubescent and ferrug- ineous; venation pinnate and cladodromous, midvein prominent below, 20-22 pairs of secondary veins, 2-15 mm apart, arcuate, prominent below, forming an obtuse angle with the midrib at the leaf base. Petiole 20-25 mm long, shallowly channeled, tomentose. Inflorescence terminal paniculate, 13-18 cm long, branches regular, villous; bracts triangular, 1.5-2 mm long, 0.5-1 mm wide, pubescent outside. Flowers 5-merous, unisexual; pedicel 0.5 mm long, pubescent; calyx lobes ovate to deltate, 1.5 mm long, 1.5 mm wide, sericeous outside, imbricate; corolla lobes obovate, 5 mm long, 2 mm wide, pubescent outside, red or pink, imbricate; stamens 5; in staminate flowers filaments 5.5 mm long, sigmoid, inserted basally on the outer surface of the disk, glabrous; anthers ca. 1 mm long, ovate, yellow, glabrous, dorsifixed, introrse, dehiscent by longitudinal slits; disk dish-shaped and crenulate, glabrous, ovary rudimentary. Pistillate flowers and fruit unknown.

HABITAT, DISTRIBUTION AND PHENOLOGY. — Micronychia danguyana occurs in the rainforest of southeastern Madagascar ( Fig. 2 ). It has been collected in flower and young fruit in late August.

VERNACULAR NAME. — Karakatafy.

This species is sometimes confused with M. macrophylla , but its leaves are more obovate, much smaller in size, and lack a decurrent base, making its petiole length much greater than that of M. macrophylla (20-25 mm vs. 7-15 mm).

PERRIER DE LA BÂTHIE (1944) cited two collections when he first published M. danguyana , which constitute syntypes. One of them (Decary 5034) has been selected as the lectotype because it has flowers.

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL EXAMINED. — MADA- GASCAR: Decary 4767, Fianarantsoa Prov., Farafangana, Befotaka , 13 Aug. 1926, fr. (P!) .

Figures

Fig. 2. — Geographic distribution of Micronychia acuminata, M. danguyana, and M. macrophylla.