Inversodicraea ledermannii (Engl.) Engl. (Engler 1915: 274)

Bidault, Ehoarn, Boupoya, Archange, Ikabanga, Davy U., Nguimbit, Igor, Texier, Nicolas, Rutishauser, Rolf, Mesterhazy, Attila & Stevart, Tariq, 2023, Novitates Gabonenses 93: a fresh look at Podostemaceae in Gabon following recent inventories, with a new combination for Ledermanniella nicolasii, Plant Ecology and Evolution 156 (1), pp. 59-84 : 59

Inversodicraea ledermannii (Engl.) Engl. (Engler 1915: 274)

Distribution.

Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola. This is, with I. tenax , one of the most widespread species in the genus. However, some collections from the southernmost part of its range may have been misidentified and may represent I. tenax (see Notes). Cheek et al. (2017) mention that all collections from West Africa may represent other taxa, since some material originally identified as such later proved to be separate species, e.g. I. pygmaea and I. harrisii (C.Cusset) Cheek. No complete revision of the available material was made for this study, we thus consider its distribution as mentioned by Cheek et al. (2017) with the exception of its presence in Gabon.

Habitat and ecology.

Rapids and falls in rivers, 5-750 m in elevation.

Notes.

This species was known in Gabon from a single collection, Le Testu 5983, collected in 1926 in the Offooué river (mistakenly mentioned as the Ogooué river by Cusset) on the road from Mimongo to Koulamoutou in the Ogooué-Lolo province, and identified as such by Cusset (1983). However, recent examination of pollen of this material revealed monads, while I. ledermannii is described as having pollen as dyads. This excludes the possibility that this material represents I. ledermannii and we consider this collection to represent I. tenax instead. Inversodicraea ledermannii is therefore excluded from the flora of Gabon for the moment. Its presence in the country remains plausible, as this species seems abundant in Cameroon.