Monanthotaxis poggei Engl. & Diels — Plate

Hoekstra, P. H., Wieringa, J. J., Maas, P. J. M. & Chatrou, L. W., 2021, Revision of the African species of Monanthotaxis (Annonaceae), Blumea 66 (2), pp. 107-221 : 189-191

60. Monanthotaxis poggei Engl. & Diels — Plate 5g; Map 37

Monanthotaxis poggei Engl. & Diels (1901) 53. — Lectotype (designated by Verdcourt 1971a: 93): F.R.R. Schlechter 12801 (lecto consisting of 2 sheets: B100153041 , B100153042 ; isolecto AMD.129315,AMD.129316, BM000547352 , BR0000008801708 , BR0000008802033 , K000198985 , L 0188029 , L.2362454, P01982449 , P01982450 , WAG0057967 ), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Nov. 1899.

Monanthotaxis poggei Engl. & Diels var. latifolia Engl. & Diels (1901) 53. — Type: P. Pogge 638 (holo B not seen), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Manima , Kasongo, am Lufuba, Apr. 1882.

Popowia argentea De Wild. (1914) 383. — Type: E.P. Luja s.n. (holo consisting of 2 sheets: BR0000008802361 , BR0000008802699 ), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kasai-Oriental, Forêt du Sankuru, June 1911.

Small tree, shrub, scandent shrub or liana, 1–3(–5) m long; young branches covered with appressed to slightly ascending, reddish brown hairs 0.5–1 mm long, becoming glabrous; old branches blackish brown. Leaves: petiole 3–5 mm long, c. 1 mm diam, grooved, indument as on branches; lamina oblong-elliptic to ovate or narrowly so, 6.5–18.5 by 2.8–6.7 cm, 2.2–3.6 times longer than wide, chartaceous, not punctate, young leaves above sparsely covered with appressed, whitish hairs, but soon becoming glabrous, below densely covered with appressed, silky brownish hairs 0.8–1.5 mm long, whitish in older leaves, base rounded to subcordate, sometimes with small thickened black margin, apex broadly acute to acuminate, acumen to 17 mm long, secondary veins 8–16 per side, curving upwards, tertiary venation percurrent, slightly raised above, below only visible in older leaves. Inflorescences axillary, composed of solitary flowers or up to 4-flowered fascicle-like rhipidia; sympodial rachis 0–23 mm long; pedicels 3–7 mm long, c. 0.6 mm diam, fruiting pedicels (4–) 8–12 mm long, 0.8–1.2 mm diam, indument as on young branches; lower bract absent; upper bract in lower half or halfway the pedicel, ovate, 1.5–2 by c. 1 mm (see note 2), indument as on young branches; flower buds ovoid-deltoid. Flowers bisexual; sepals free to slightly connate at base, (2 or) 3, broadly triangular-ovate, c. 1.5 by 1.5–2 mm, covered with reddish brown hairs, persistent in fruit and becoming up to 3 mm long; receptacle c. 3 mm diam, flat; petals yellowish brown, inside reddish brown in sicco, 4(–6), in one whorl, ovate-elliptic, 3–4 by 2–3 mm, outside covered with reddish brown hairs, inside glabrous; stamens 8–12, in one whorl, free, obconical, c. 0.7 mm long, filaments c. 0.3 mm long, thecae latrorse to introrse, c. 0.4 mm long, connective truncate, slightly prolonged inward, glabrous, staminodes absent; carpels 10–12, ellipsoid, c. 0.8 by 0.5 mm, densely hairy, ovules (1 or) 2 (or 3), basal or lateral, stigma subsessile, globose, c. 0.05 mm long, grooved, glabrous. Monocarps 1–6, green, maturing yellow-orange, ellipsoid or subcylindric, 1-seeded ones 11–16 by c. 7 mm, 2-seeded ones 19–22 by c. 7 mm and slightly constricted between the seeds, densely covered with ascending, reddish brown hairs when young, ripe fruits with less dense and more appressed hairs, apex rounded or slightly apiculate, stipes 1.5–3.5 mm long. Seeds 1 or 2, ellipsoid, 9–10(–14) by 5–7 mm, ochre-brown, both ends rounded, raphe a longitudinal furrow.

Distribution — Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Tanzania Angola.

Habitat & Ecology — In primary and secondary forest, gallery forest; on brown sandy soil or large sandstone blocks.Altitude: 470–1300 m. Flowering and fruiting all year round.

Vernacular names — Democratic Republic of the Congo: Lukukuma (R. Desenfans 4422), Kanimpemba (Tshiluba name) (L. Liben 1745), Kakumu (Tshiluba name) (L. Liben 2384), Kadjambuluka (A. Thiébaud 748). Tanzania: Bulyankende (Kiha name) (Y.S. Abeid 981), Shrubbish (T.H. Clutton­Brock 18), Lujongororo (Kitongwe name) (S. Uehara 72), Lujongololo (S. Uehara 579).

Preliminary IUCN conservation status — Least concern (LC). EOO: 1 712 827 km 2, AOO: 228 km 2. This species occurs in many locations including several nature reserves.

Uses — The pulp of ripe fruits is edible and freshly eaten ( Ruffo et al. 2002). The roots are used as a medicine against stomach-ache and snakebites ( Ruffo et al. 2002). The wood is used to make storage pots and withies and the wood is used as firewood ( Ruffo et al. 2002).

Notes — 1. Monanthotaxis poggei is easily recognisable by the appressed, silky hairs on the lower leaf surface. Older leaves can be similar to those of M. congoensis or M. paniculata , but M. poggei differs by having solitary flowers or up to 4-flowered fascicle-like rhipidia, while M. congoensis has the flowers in raceme-like rhipidia and M. paniculata in panicle-like rhipidia.

2. According to the protologue and Boutique (1951a), Paiva (1966) and Verdcourt (1971a) the bracts are c. 1.5 cm long. They probably refer to the upper bract, which is 1.5 mm, not cm, long.

Figures

Map 37 Distribution of Monanthotaxis poggei Engl. & Diels.