Anisophyllea sororia Pierre (1896: 1230)

Chen, Xin, He, Hai & Zhang, Li-Bing, 2015, A monograph of the Anisophylleaceae (Cucurbitales) with description of 18 new species of Anisophyllea, Phytotaxa 229 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

65. Anisophyllea sororia Pierre (1896: 1230) ( Figure 128 )

Type:— GABON. Estuaire: Libreville , 1894, R. P. Klaine 35 (lecototype P-00374859!, here designated, isolectotypes P-00374857!, P-00374858!) .

Small trees, young branches pubescent with very short hairs or sericeous, black when dry. Leaves dimorphic, small ones nearly opposite to large ones, internodes between similar types of leaves 1.0– 3.5 cm, between two adjacent different types of leaves ca. 8 mm; Small leaves caducous, sessile, deltoid, 1.0– 2.2 cm long, 0.5–1.5 cm wide, base acute to obtuse, apex acute, main veins 5–7, slightly impressed adaxially and prominent abaxially; larger leave s petiolate, petiole to 4 mm long; leaf blade ovate-lanceolate, 1.5–5.5 cm long, 0.5–2.5 cm wide, base slightly oblique, obtuse to rounded, apex acute, margins often slightly revolute, coriaceous, sericeous when young, glabrescent when mature; main longitudinal veins 5–7, springing from blade base, or with two inner lateral veins merged with midrib at lower part to 2.5 cm above blade base before separated, outer lateral veins fine with outermost two usually disappearing on lower portion of blade margins, inner veins slightly impressed adaxially and raised abaxially, outer 1 or 2 pairs of veins slightly prominent on both surfaces; transverse veins parallel, at angles of 60–80° with midrib; veinlets reticulate and tessellate, flat adaxially and prominent abaxially. Inflorescence an axillary spike, rachis ascending, to 12 cm long, usually with female flowers in lower part and male flowers near apex, sericeous; bracts narrowly lanceolate, each often subtending one axillary flower, early deciduous, ca. 2 times longer than flowers; flower buds sericeous; flowers unisexual, usually 4-merous, sessile, female flowers larger than male flowers, receptacle cylindric, to 1 mm long; sepals ovate lanceolate, to 2.5 mm long, apex acute, sericeous outside; petals to 3.5 mm long, obovate in outline, deeply 5-laciniate from ca. lower 1/3 their length, outer two lobes wider than central almost equal in width three lobes, all laciniae similar distally and narrowed into tortuous and threadlike ends; stamens 8, to 2.5 mm long; disk 4-lobed with lobes slightly bulged between stamens and enclosing styles; styles 4, free, subulate. Fruit a drupe, oblong, to 2.3 cm long, 1.1 cm in diam., or rarely much smaller, attenuate toward both ends, apex with persistent sepals; exocarp thin, ca. 1.5 mm thick, fleshy, red, endocarp ca. 1.25 mm thick, woody. Seed one, elliptic, integument yellowish brown, thinly coriaceous; embryo undivided, oily.

Flowering and fruiting: —Flowering time unknown; fruiting in April–May.

Habitat and distribution: —In forests; elevations unknown. S. Cameroon; Gabon (Estuaire) ( Figure 129 ).

Taxonomic notes: — Anisophyllea sororia had been identified as A. laurina before its publication by Pierre (1896). It can be distinguished from the latter by its smaller leaves, its smaller and oblong fruits that become narrower towards both ends, and its 5-laciniate petals with almost equally long laciniae (though the outermost lobes wider than the middle three ones proximally). It is also similar to A. polyneura and the specimens of the latter had been included in this species before the latter was published ( Floret 1987). Their most obvious difference is that the petals of A. polyneura have laciniae with swelling glandular apices, while the petals of this species have tortuous threadlike ends.

The type specimen is R. P. Klaine 35, which was incorrectly cited as R. P. Klaine 85 in the protologue ( Pierre 1896). We found three duplicates at P and one of them is designated as the lectotype here.

Additional specimens examined: — CAMEROON. South: Colline de Zingui, 20 km WSW d’Ebolowa, feuille IGN 1/200.000 Kribi , 05 April 1970, R . Letouzey 10283 ( P) . GABON. Estuaire: Okala, Libreville, Jardin , 00°31’S 009°35’E, 06 May 1987, J. J . Dibata 157 ( MO) .

166 • Phytotaxa 229 (1) © 2015 Magnolia Press

CHEN ET AL.

MONOGRAPH OF ANISOPHYLLEACEAE

Phytotaxa 229 (1) © 2015 Magnolia Press • 167

Figures

FIGURE 128. Anisophyllea sororia Pierre. Flowering branch, longitudinally dissected fruits, and large leaves (R. P. Klaine 35; lecototype, P-00374859).

FIGURE 129. Geographical distribution of Anisophyllea sororia Pierre.