Sabicea discolor Stapf

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

Sabicea discolor Stapf in J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 37: 105. 1905.

Lectotypus (designated here): LIBERIA. Sinoe: Sinoe Basin, 1904, Whyte s.n. ( K [ K000043317 ]!). Syntypi: GHANA: Akwapim , III.1900, Murphy 679 ( K [ K000043305 ]!). LIBERIA. Montserrado: Monrovia , 1904, Whyte s.n. ( K [ K000043318 ]!) .

= Sabicea arachnoidea Hutch. & Dalziel, Fl. W. Trop. Afr. 2: 106. 1931 . Lectotypus (designated here): SIERRA LEONE. Northern Prov. : Yonibana, 11.XI.1914, N.W. Thomas 5275 ( K [ K000043255 ]!). Syntypi: SIERRA LEONE. Northern Prov.: Yonibana, 11.XI.1914, N.W. Thomas 5062 ( K [ K000043256 ]!); Roruks, 24.XI.1914, N.W. Thomas 5703 ( K [ K000043257 ]!) , syn. nov.

Notes. – Sabicea arachnoidea was described based on three very poor collections from Sierra Leone, and has never been recollected since. It is supposedly characterised by dense globose inflorescences, linear or filiform calyx lobes, and discolorous leaves with arachnoid indumentum beneath (HUTCHINSON & DALZIEL, 1931; HEPPER, 1963). A reexamination of the syntypes shows that the so-called inflorescences are actually leaf galls, which bear structures resembling calyx lobes at first sight – similar galls have been reported in S. sciaphilantha subsp. hirsuta Zemagho, O. Lachenaud & Sonké (ZEMAGHO et al., 2017). In vegetative characters the syntypes of S. arachnoidea are inseparable from S. discolor , which has also been collected at Yonibana (N.W. Thomas 5038, K) and it is therefore obvious that the two species are identical.

Among the three syntypes of S. arachnoidea , the most complete collection [ K000043317 ] is designated here as lectotype. The original description of S. discolor (STAPF, 1905) is also based on three syntypes, as the author states: “near Monrovia and in the Sinoe Basin, Whyte. Also in the Gold Coast near Akwapim, at 1400 feet, Murphy (herb. Johnson, 679)”. One of the Whyte collections, which is slightly better than the others, is selected here as lectotype.