Anisophyllea myriostictoides Li Bing Zhang, Xin Chen & H.He, 2015

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

43. Anisophyllea myriostictoides Li Bing Zhang, Xin Chen & H.He , sp. nov. ( Figure 84 )

Type:— GABON. Nyanga: ca. 50 km SW of Doussala , 02°36’00”S 010°35’00”E, 23 August 1985, J. M . et B. Reitsma 1376 (holotype NY!) .

Diagnosis:— Anisophyllea myriostictoides is most similar to A. madagascarensis in leaves glandular, but the former has young branches hirsute only; buds glabrous; leaves most often caudate at apex with elongated tips; in contrast, the latter has young branches concurrently pubescent and hirsute; buds densely pubescent; leaves most often acute or acuminate at apex without obvious elongated tips.

Trees to 24 m tall, 24.5 cm in diam.; bark slightly fluted, ca. 5 mm thick, pinkish inside; young branches sparsely hirsute with patent or ascending hairs to 1.3 mm long, turning brownish and glabrescent with age; buds glabrous. Leaves dimorphic, internodes between similar types of leaves 1.5–2.0 cm, between two adjacent different types of leaves 3–5 mm; small leaves caducous with scars only visible on young branches; large leaves petiolate, petiole 1–2 mm long, 1.0– 1.3 mm in diam., sparsely hirsute and glandular; leaf blade elliptical-rhombic or ovate-elliptic, 5–9 cm long, 2.2–4.0 cm wide, bases slightly oblique, acute, apex acuminate or caudate with tips to 1.5 mm long and often diverted to the branch (or rarely in reverse direction), margin ±revolute, thickly chartaceous, glabrous on both surfaces, glandular abaxially with transparent protuberant glands 0.10–0.25 in diam., 0.3–1.0 mm distant; main longitudinal veins 5–6, springing from blade base, inner veins impressed adaxially and raised abaxially, outmost two veins very fine and almost confluent with blade margins, and one outmost vein usually disapearing into blade margin if 6 main veins present, slightly prominent on both surfaces; transverse veins sub-parallel or irregular, at angles of 45–50° with midrib, slightly prominent on both surfaces; veinlets reticulate. Flowers and fruits unknown.

Flowering and fruiting: —Unknown.

Habitat and distribution: — In mountainous rain forests; ca. 200 m. Gabon (Nyanga) ( Figure 85 ) .

Taxonomic notes: — Anisophyllea myriostictoides is similar to A. myriosticta in appearance, but it has protuberant and transparent glands on the abaxial leaf surface, which are very obvious under microscope, while only granules or small dots are described by Floret (1987) on the leaf surface of A. myriosticta . This species is also different from the latter in its small-sized leaves with shorter petioles.

The epithet of this species is from A. myriostica with the ending - oides, referring to their similarity.

Figures

FIGURE 84. Anisophyllea myriostictoides Li Bing Zhang, Xin Chen & H.He. Leafy branch (J. M. et B. Reitsma 1376; holotype, NY).

FIGURE 85. Geographical distribution of Anisophyllea myriostictoides Li Bing Zhang, Xin Chen & H.He.