Clerodendrum polycephalum Baker (1895b: 116

Meerts, Pierre, 2023, The genus Clerodendrum (Lamiaceae) in the flora of Central Africa (D. R. Congo, Rwanda, Burundi), Phytotaxa 594 (1), pp. 1-42 : 23

17. Clerodendrum polycephalum Baker (1895b: 116 ; 1900: 300); Thomas (1936: 75); Huber (1963: 444); Lebrun & Stork (1997: 512); Akoegninou et al. (2006: 985); Hawthorne & Jongkind (2006: 426); Lisowski (2009: 364); César & Chatelain (2019: 731).

Type:— NIGERIA. Ogbomoshaw in Yoruba, Eastern Lagos, 1893, Rowland s. n. (holotype: K000192841; iso-: P00442365 ) .

Small liana or shrub 1– 3 m. Stem stiff, fulvous to rusty hispid, with persistent petiole bases ca. 3 mm. Leaves opposite or 3-whorled; petiole 0.5–4.0 cm, unequal at the same node, pubescent like the stem; lamina ovate to elliptic or obovate, 5–12.5(–15.5) × 3.5–6.5(–9) cm, coriaceous, base rounded to slightly cordate, apex shortly acuminate, discolorous, upper surface pubescent (multicellular hairs ca. 0.5 mm), lower surface shortly hispid on veins and pale gland-doted, 5–7 veins on either side, reticulum prominent on lower surface, margin entire. Inflorescence at shoot apex, corymbose to umbellate, 3–10 × 8–16 cm, with 3–4 nodes, each bearing 2 or 3 branches 1–7 cm long, the lowermost ones in the axils of foliaceous bracts (ca. 6 × 2.5 cm); cymes rather dense, ca. 1 × 1–2 cm, axes pubescent; bracts narrowly obovate, 2–10 × 0.5–1 mm. Flower: pedicel 0–4 mm; calyx 2.5–4 mm long, comprising a narrow tube ca. 1.5 mm long, sparsely pubescent, and a funnel-shaped limb ca. 1.5 × 4 mm subglabrous, lobes triangular ca. 1 × 1 mm; corolla: tube 4–5(–7) mm, glabrous, lobes 2–3 mm long, shortly pubescent without, white; stamens protruding 5–8 mm, anther ca. 0.8 mm long, brownish. Fruit ca. 9 × 8 mm, subtended by persistent cup-shaped calyx ca. 5 × 9 mm.

Distribution in Central Africa:—D.R. Congo.

Distribution elsewhere:— Angola ( Cabinda), Benin, Burkina, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo.

Habitat:—Unknown in Central Africa; elsewhere: shrub savannah and woodland; 0–500 m (?).

Selection of representative specimens:—D.R. CONGO. Mayombe: Kuimba, s.d., Bittremieux 377 (BR!).

Notes:—1. This species is new to D.R. Congo. The new locality is situated at short distance from the nearest localities in Angola ( Cabinda). Previous records of this species in D.R. Congo are errors, based on specimens collected in Angola ( Cabinda) (formerly referred to as “Portuguese Congo ”) (e.g., Gossweiler 9136, 9179).

2. C. polycephalum is related to C. inaequipetiolatum , from which it differs by the shorter indumentum of calyx, and the less dense inflorescence, to C. dusenii , from which it differs by the pubescent upper surface of leaf, and to C. johnstonii , from which it differs by the calyx lacking a dense rusty tomentose indumentum.