Monanthotaxis discrepantinervia Verdc. — Plate
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/10.3767/blumea.2021.66.02.01 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/565E87CB-FFA5-F97B-B01F-3D53A2F2250E |
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treatment provided by |
Felipe |
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scientific name |
Monanthotaxis discrepantinervia Verdc. — Plate |
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23. Monanthotaxis discrepantinervia Verdc. — Plate View in CoL 3a; Map 15 View Map 15
Monanthotaxis discrepantinervia Verdc. (1986) 295. — Type: L.B. Mwasumbi 12077 (holo DSM not seen; iso K000198980 ), Tanzania, Morogoro, morningside, on road to Bondwa, N. Uluguru Mountains , 1500 m, 30 Nov. 1980.
Scandent shrub or liana, to 6 m long; young branches covered with erect, reddish brown hairs 0.1–0.2 mm long, becoming glabrous; old branches reddish brown to blackish brown. Leaves: petiole 3–6 mm long, 1–1.1 mm wide, grooved, indument as on branches; lamina oblong-elliptic, obovate to oblanceolate, 3.5–15.3 by 2.1–6.1 cm, 1.3–3.6 times longer than wide, chartaceous, not punctate, discolorous, green above, pale green and glaucous below, above sparsely covered with ascending, white hairs 0.2–0.3 mm long, primary vein densely covered with erect, yellowish hairs, below sparsely covered with ascending, yellow hairs 0.2–0.4 mm long, primary vein and veins more densely so, base rounded, truncate to slightly subcordate, glands hardly visible, apex acute to acuminate, acumen to 10 mm long, secondary veins 7–16 per side, curving upwards or from base straight, halfway curving upwards, tertiary venation percurrent, hardly visible above. Inflorescences extra-axillary, leaf-opposed or terminal, composed of solitary flowers or 2-flowered rhipidia; sympodial rachis c. 1 mm long, densely covered with yellow hairs; flowering and fruiting pedicels 9–13 mm long, 0.7–1 mm diam, densely covered with ascending hairs c. 0.2 mm long; lower bract depressed ovate to ovate, 0.5–4 by 1–3 mm; upper bract halfway up the pedicel, broadly to narrowly ovate, 2–4 by 0.8–3.5 mm, densely covered with yellow hairs; flower buds globose to slightly ovoid. Flowers bisexual; sepals free, broadly ovate, 9–11 by c. 8.5 mm, apex obtuse, sparsely covered with yellowish, short hairs, persistent in fruit; receptacle 2–3 mm diam, flat; petals colour in vivo unknown, 6, in two whorls, outer petals ovate to broadly ovate, 3–7 by 3.2–5 mm, outside and apical part of the inside densely covered with yellowish hairs c. 0.1 mm long, inner petals elliptic, 2.7–5 by 1.3–2 mm, outside covered with short hairs, glabrous along the margins, inside glabrous except for some hairs near the apex; stamens 15 or 16, in one whorl, free, linear-oblong, c. 0.9 mm long, filaments c. 0.5 mm long, thecae latrorse to extrorse, connective truncate, prolonged outward, not hiding thecae, glabrous, staminodes absent; carpels 8–10, narrowly ellipsoid, 1.2–1.4 by c. 0.3 mm, densely hairy, ovules 1 or 2, lateral, stigma subglobose to ellipsoid, 0.2–0.5 mm long, glabrous. Monocarps 1–3, colour in vivo unknown, ellipsoid, 12–16 by 5–7 mm, smooth, sparsely covered with yellowish, short hairs, apex apiculate, apiculum c. 1 mm long, stipes 1–1.5 mm long. Seed 1, ellipsoid, 9.5–12 by 6–6.5 mm, ochre-brown, apex flattened or rounded, raphe not visible.
Distribution — Tanzania (Iringa, Lindi, Morogoro, Tanga).
Habitat & Ecology — In submontane and montane forest. Altitude: 760–1425 m. Flowering: April, May, September, November; fruiting: November.
Vernacular name — Tanzania: Msitu (Kitongwe name) (Y.S. Abeid 1302).
Preliminary IUCN conservation status — Endangered (EN): B2ab(iii). EOO: 89 549 km 2, AOO: 32 km 2. This species is known from 8 collections from 5 locations. Three are in protected areas; however, in two of these locations the collections are more than 100 years old and the other two locations are under threat of habitat destruction.
Notes — 1. Monanthotaxis discrepantinervia is the only species in Eastern Africa of which the sepals are as large as or larger than the petals. It differs from other species with large sepals from West and Central Africa in having broadly ovate sepals and only one seed per monocarp.
2. Floral measurements were taken from a terminal, quite small flower; the largest measurements were copied from the protologue.
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.