Justicia subsessilis Oliv.

Darbyshire, I. & Goyder, D. J., 2019, Notes on Justicia sect. Monechma (Acanthaceae) in Angola, including two new species, Blumea 64 (2), pp. 97-107 : 106

11. Justicia subsessilis Oliv.

Justicia subsessilis Oliv. (in Grant et al. 1875) 129, t. 129b. — Monechma subsessile (Oliv.) C.B. Clarke (1900) 216. — Type: Speke & Grant 213 (holo K [K000378735]), Tanzania,Bukoba Prov., Karagwe, fl., 2 Dec. 1861.

Justicia simplicispica C.B. Clarke (1900) 188. — Type: Scott Elliot s.n. (holo K [ K000378734 ]), East Africa , without locality or date.

Monechma nemoralis S. Moore (1909) 296. — Type: Kässner 3010 (holo BM [ BM000923664 ]; iso K [ K000379152 ]), D.R. Congo, Niembe R., 27 May 1908.

Distribution & Ecology — Justicia subsessilis is widespread across central and southern tropical Africa, largely associated with the Zambesian regional centre of endemism. It is recorded in Burundi, D.R. Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In Angola, it is known from Cuando Cubango Province. It occurs in fire-prone woodland, bushland and short grassland; the single Angolan record was from 1234 m elevation.

Angolan specimen seen. Barker, Bester & Janks 89 (INBAC, K, LUBA, PRE), Cuando Cubango , Longa River, 55 km SW of Cuito Cuanavale [Cuito drainage], fr., 7 June 2015 .

Note — This species was collected for the first time in An- gola in 2015 during a survey of the more southerly catchment of the Cubango and Cuito rivers in Angola by a team from Grahamstown and Pretoria in South Africa, again as part of the Okavango Wilderness Project.