Anisophyllea pomifera Engler & von Brehmer (1917: 376)

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

53. Anisophyllea pomifera Engler & von Brehmer (1917: 376) ( Figure 104 )

Type:— Tanzania. Mbeya: Kyimbila, North of Malawi Lake , 03 January 1913 (?), Stoltz A. 1802 (lectotype K-000350174!, here designated, isolectotypes BR-0000006272210!, HB-G510106!, K-000350173!, K-000350175!, L-0649543!, MO-168755 !, NY!, PRE-0601772-0!, S-09-23511 !, SI-012040!) .

Small trees to 8 m tall; young branches longitudinal striate sparsely tomentose with brown tortuous hairs to 0.3 mm long, thin and not matted, with hairs persistent and turning grayish, or glabrescent when mature; buds densely tomentose. Leaves dimorphic, small leaves caducous; large leaves petiolate, petiole 2–5 mm long, ca. 1 mm in diam., sparsely tomentose; leaf blades broadly ovate or elliptic, 4–9 cm long, 1.5–5.0 cm wide, base obtuse, rarely acute, apex broadly acute or obtuse, ±coriaceous, sparsely tomentose when young, glabrous on both surfaces when mature, ±glossy and lustrous adaxially; main lateral veins 6–8, springing from lower portion of midrib, or innermost pair arising above middle of midrib (in this case main veins pinnate-like), curved towards apex, outermost two veins very fine and nearly confluent with blade margins (occasionally disappearing into blade margins), slightly prominent adaxially and distinctly raised abaxially, paler than diachyma; transverse veins almost parallel or irregular, at angles of 70–85° with midrib; veinlets reticulate, slightly prominent on both sides. Inflorescence an axillary spike, mostly in axils of caducous small leaves on lower part of young branches, rarely in axils of large leaves; rachis pendulous, to 15 cm long, densely or sparsely tomentose, remotely with a few flowers; bracts narrowly lanceolate, 1.0– 1.6 mm long, ca. 0.16 mm wide, apex acute, each often with one axillary flower; flower buds sub-globose or quadrangular; bracts and flower buds densely tomentose as well; flowers polygamous, 4-merous, sessile; bisexual flowers receptacle cylindrical, 1.6–2.0 mm long, same in diam., densely tomentose; sepals broadly ovate, to 2 mm long, apex acute, margin shortly ciliate, glabrous adaxially, sparsely tomentose abaxially; petals to 3 mm long, base entire, broadly obovate at lower part, upward irregularly laciniate to 2/3 their length, laciniae 6–7, threadlike, glabrous; stamens 8, filaments tenuous, ca. 1.5 mm long, base slightly dilated, upwards gradually attenuate, anthers 0.3–0.4 mm long; disk lobed, densely pubescent with yellowish hairs ca. 0.016 mm long; styles 4, free, to 1 mm long, base strongly dilated, densely pubescent with yellowish hairs ca. 0.06 mm long, distally attenuate, glabrous, stigma ±globose, thickened, to 0.5 mm long; male flowers smaller than bisexual flowers, similar in indumentum, petal laciniae and disk lobes; sepals deltoid, to 1.1 mm long; petals to 2 mm long; stamens 8, to 1.5 mm long, thickened and compressed at base, ca. 0.3 mm thick, anthers 0.3–0.4 mm long; pistil rudimentary, styles 4, free, subulate, ca. 0.3 mm long, 0.15 mm in diam., pubescent. Fruit a drupe, ovoid, ca. 2.8 cm long, 1.3 cm in diam., attenuate toward both ends, apex ca. 8 mm long and with persistent sepals, or occasionally other floral parts, with vertical purple stripes, glabrous.

Flowering and fruiting: —July–January.

Habitat and distribution: —Open woodlands or upland plateau thickets; 600–1600 m. Burundi (Bururi); Democratic Republic of the Congo (Katanga); Malawi (Mzimba); Tanzania (Kigoma, Mbeya); Zambia (Northern) ( Figure 105 ).

Local usage: —Fruits with sour-sweetish juicy edible.

Taxonomic notes: — Anisophyllea pomifera is described to be distinguished from the earliest known African species, A. laurina , by its leaves mostly obtuse at base and with inner main lateral veins arising from midrib far above blade base ( Engler & von Brehmer 1917, Engler 1921). Based on the specimens we examined, the length of its inflorescences can reach 15 cm long, even 20 cm long in rare case ( Lewis 1956). Its indumentum was classified as thin-walled, weak and moderately twisted, which makes it different from another similar African species, A. boehmii (Levis 1956, Torre & Gonçalves 1978).

MONOGRAPH OF ANISOPHYLLEACEAE

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CHEN ET AL.

In the protologue, two collections of Stoltz were cited ( Engler & von Brehmer 1917), one of which might have been destroyed ( Duvigneaud & Dewit 1950). We could not verify whether the two collections cited in the protologue represent two distinctive taxa as suspected by Duvigneaud & Dewit (1950). Notably, Stoltz 1802, cited in the protologue, was collected on two different dates, which might have represented two collections, but all the available sheets have no exact dates of collection. Here we designate one sheet deposited at K as the lectotype to stabilize the application of the name.

Additional specimens examined: — BURUNDI. Bururi: Rumonge , 800 m, September 1974, M . Reekmans 3524 ( MO); 1000 m, 05 June 1996, J . Lewalle 897 ( MO); 800 m, September 1974, M . Reekmans 3524 ( MO) . DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO. Katanga: Kaniama, 1953, Robyns 3884 ( K) . MALAWI. Mzimba: Lunyangwa , 1330 m, 31 May 1986, I. F . LaCroix 3872 ( MO); 1330 m, 02 June 1987, I. F . LaCroix 4497 ( MO); Mzuzu, Marymount, 1380 m, Jean Pawek 7414 ( K, MO) . TANZANIA. Kigoma: Kigoma Rural, T4 Gombe Stream National Park, Mkenke water path, 04°41’S 029°37’E, 1150 m, 28 September 1999, Grace Gobbo , S. A . Hassan & et al. 455 ( MO); T7 . Masebe, c. 15 km south of Tukuyu near Chivanje Tea Factory , 1200 m, 02 October 1977, L. B . Mwasumbi 11444 ( MO) . Mbeya: Kyimbila, North of Malawi Lake, 600 m, 22 July 1912, Stoltz A . 1453 ( HBG, P, S, SI). ZAMBIA. Northern: Mpika District , 26 May 1995, M. G . Bingham 10555 ( K); North Luangwa National Park, Elephants Playground ; ca. 14.0 km SE of Mano Camp., 11°40’23”S 032°04’36”E, 880 m, 14 May 1994, Heidi H . Schmidt & et al. 1382 ( MO) .

Figures

FIGURE 104. Anisophyllea pomifera Engler & von Brehmer. —A. Flowering branch and leaves (A. Stoltz 1453, P-00374862). —B. Fruits (A. Stoltz 1802; isolectotype, K-000350174).

FIGURE 105. Geographical distribution of Anisophyllea pomifera Engler & von Brehmer.