Sabicea speciosa K. Schum.

Zemagho, Lise, Lachenaud, Olivier & Sonké, Bonaventure, 2018, Four new species of Sabicea (Rubiaceae) from tropical Africa, with additional notes on the genus, Candollea 73 (2), pp. 277-293 : 291-292

Sabicea speciosa K. Schum. in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 23: 429. 1896.

Holotypus: CAMEROON. Southwest: Barombi-Station, 22.XI.1889, Preuss 150 ( B †; isotype: K [ K000414554 ]!). Lectotypus (designated here): ( K [ K000414554 ]!) .

= Sabicea neglecta Hepper in Kew Bull. 14: 255. 1960 . Holotypus: NIGERIA. Cross River State: Okarara, Oban Group Reserve , 14.V.1952, Ujor FHI 30836 (K [ K000414562 ]!; isotype: FHI [ FHI0030836-0 ]!) , syn. nov.

Notes. – The synonymy of these two species was recognised as long ago in 1972 by J.B. Hall, but seems never to have been published. HEPPER (1960) separated S. neglecta from S. speciosa by its axillary (vs cauliflorous) inflorescences and caudate leaftips, but these characters are not reliable: as in e.g. S. desseinii or S. pilosa , the inflorescences of S. speciosa , though usually borne on old stems, may be axillary as well (e.g. Dessein et al. 2763 or Letouzey 5275, both BR). In all other respects, e.g. red corolla, linear calyx lobes, broad reflexed stipules, and hirsute indumentum of most organs, the type of S. neglecta is a very good match for S. speciosa .

The original material of S. speciosa has presumably been lost in B, so the only duplicate traced, in Kew, is designated here as lectotype.

Sabicea speciosa occurs in eastern Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea ( Rio Muni), and disjunctly in D. R. Congo. A record from Togo (WERNHAM, 1914; HEPPER, 1963; BRUNEL et al., 1984) is very dubious, as it based on a specimen now destroyed, Büttner 263, which is more likely to have been S. cordata Hutch. & Dalziel . The latter species appears to be the western vicariant of S. speciosa , and does occur in Togo (BRUNEL et al., 1984).