Anisophyllea myriosticta Floret (1987: 373)

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

42. Anisophyllea myriosticta Floret (1987: 373) ( Figure 82 )

Type:— NIGERIA. Delta: Ogwashi-Uku, opposite Forester’s Okpanan just before mile 312 Benin-Asaba motor road, 14 March 1965, L. G. Chizea FHI 44513 (holotype K-H2008/00218147!, isotypes BM, P-00374860!) .

Trees more than 30 m tall, 2 m in diam., densely crowned; bark smooth, sometimes wrinkled or finely pleated at base; young branches longitudinally striate, hirsute with hairs erect or ascending to 1.3 mm long, tawny or sometimes ruby (seedlings), glabrescent when mature, and turning greenish, reddish or blackish, with grayish beige rhytidome appearing; buds glabrous and oily, granulose with red-brown granules ca. 0.03 mm in diam. Leaves dimorphic, small ones nearly at base of large ones, internodes between similar types of leaves 1.2–2.5 cm, between two adjacent different types of leaves 2–3 mm; small leaves caducous, stipule-like, sessile, narrowly lanceolate, to 5 mm long, 2 mm wide, glabrous, venation obscure; large leaves petiolate, petiole 1.5–4.0 mm long, ca. 1 mm in diam., brownish red to blackish, sparsely pilose with hairs to 1 mm long, and granulose as on buds; leaf blade elliptical-rhombic, or sometimes elliptical-oblong, or rarely ovate-elliptic or obovate, 6.0– 14.5 cm long, 2.2–6.3 cm wide, bases slightly oblique, broadly acute and ± briefly attenuate, apex often narrowly caudate, or sometimes with linearly elongated tips and diverting to branch (or rarely in reverse direction), margin often slightly revolute,

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MONOGRAPH OF ANISOPHYLLEACEAE

Phytotaxa 229 (1) © 2015 Magnolia Press • 111 thickly chartaceous, dark reddish brown to brightly yellowish green when dry, granulose at base abaxially; main longitudinal veins 5–6, springing from blade base, inner 3 veins impressed adaxially and raised abaxially, outermost two veins very fine and almost confluent with leaf margins, one outermost vein usually disappearing into margin when 6 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. Inflorescence a supra-axillary spike, solitary; rachis reddish green, grooved, up to 10 cm long, 0.6 mm in diam., much shortly pilose with tortuous hairs 0.25–0.65 mm long, and sporadically mixed with glandular clavate hairs; bracts broadly ovate to acute, glabrous adaxially, hairy as rachis abaxially, 4–6 involving at base of rachis, others unequally dispersed and decurrent on rachis, shorter and less numerous than flowers; flowers irregularly clustered along rachis; flower buds ovoid-oblong, 1.5–2.0 mm long, 1.0– 1.5 mm in diam., densely granulose and pubescent with hairs 0.16–0.5 mm long. Flowers polygamous or unisexual (females or bisexuals unknown); Male flowers 4-merous, sessile, sepals deltoid, 2.0– 2.5 mm long, apex acute, slightly connate at base, glabrous adaxially, granulose and pubescent with hairs ca. 0.25 mm long abaxially; petals 2.5–3.0 mm long, fleshy, lower part entire, laciniate from middle, ca. 0.5 mm wide at base and ca. 0.8 mm below laciniae, laciniae 5, threadlike, middle one much longer (more deeply separate on both sides); stamens 8, equal in length, filaments fleshy, 2.0– 2.5 mm long, base thickened, distally attenuate and curved at apex, anthers orbicular, ca. 0.5 mm long; disk 8-lobed, crenulate; pistil rudimentary; styles 4, free, subulate, ca. 0.33 mm long, ca. 0.2 mm in diam., apex suddenly narrowed, glabrous. Fruit a drupe, broadly obovoid, 4.0– 4.9 cm long, 3.5–3.7 cm in diam.; pericarp 1–4 mm thick, purplish red, adorned with small reddish brown to golden corky dots; endocarp ellipsoid-oblong, ends broadly obtuse, 1–3 mm thick. Seed 1, oblong to broadly rounded, 3.2–3.8 cm long, 2.0– 2.2 cm wide, broadly acute at both ends.

Flowering and fruiting: —Flowering in March; fruiting?throughout the year.

Habitat and distribution: — In forests, most commonly in coastal forests; below 500 m. Cameroon ( Littoral ),? Gabon, Nigeria (Cross River, Delta, Kogi) ( Figure 83 ) .

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Taxonomic notes: — Anisophyllea myriosticta is different from other western African species in its large-sized fruits and seeds, its glabrous and oily buds, granules on its buds, petioles, inflorescences, and outside of flowers, and its longitudinal main veins all arising from the base of blade as pointed by Floret (1987). Before its publication, specimens of this plant had been included in A. laurina ( Hutchinson & Dalziel 1927) or as an unidentified separate species ( Hutchinson & Dalziel 1954). It was said to be distributed in Gabon, but we only saw one of the duplicates of the specimens from Gabon cited by Floret (1987) and that duplicate (at NY) is here described as a new species, A. myriostictoides (see below). We could not confirm the distribution of A. myriosticta in Gabon.

Additional specimens examined: — CAMEROON. Littoral: Hill Nkolesesan near Mbanga (km 81 route Kribi-Ebolowa , near sous prefecture Akom II), 26 April 1968 R . Letouzey 9456 ( P); Dimomika (?), 16 December 1982, Moutsambote Jean-Marie 218 ( P) . NIGERIA. Cross River: Calabar, Odukpan , 18 February 1965, B . D. Daramola FHI 55528 ( K); Oban, Etet, 912-13, Mr & Mrs. Talbot 3169 ( MO, NY). Delta: Ogwashi-Uku, Asaba- Ibusa road near Atakpo stream, 18 April 1965, L. G . Chizea 44507, 44509 & 44514 ( K). Kogi: Udi Plateau, 460 m, March 1926, S. R . Ainslie s.n. ( K) .

Figures

FIGURE 82. Anisophyllea myriosticta Floret. —A. Flowering branchlet. —B. Large leaf with portion of leaf greatly enlarged showing cell arrangement. —C. Portion of leafy branchlet showing large and small leaves. —D. Supra-axillary inflorescence. —E. Portion of inflorescence rachis showing flower buds. —F. Longitudinal section of flower bud (male flower). —G. Male flower. —H. Petal. —J, K. Adaxial and abaxial views of stamen. —L. Longitudinal section of stamen. —M. Top view of receptacle. —N. Fruit. —O. Longitudinal section of fruit (Drawn by J. J. Floret & D. Storez; reproduced and modified from Floret in Adansonia 4: 375. 1986).

FIGURE 83. Geographical distribution of Anisophyllea myriosticta Floret.