Monanthotaxis trichantha (Diels) Verdc. — Plate, 1971
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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-FFEF-F931-B01F-38B8A5472327 |
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treatment provided by |
Felipe |
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scientific name |
Monanthotaxis trichantha (Diels) Verdc. — Plate |
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70. Monanthotaxis trichantha (Diels) Verdc. — Plate View in CoL 6a; Map 43 View Map 43
Monanthotaxis trichantha (Diels) Verdc. (1971b) 23. — Popowia buchananii (Engl.) Engl. & Diels var. trichantha Diels in Mildbr.(1936) 270. — Popowia trichantha (Diels) R.E.Fr.(1953) 39. — Lectotype (designated here): H.J.E. Schlieben 5890 (lecto B (B100471983); iso B100471984, BM000553825, BR0000008824097, G00308304,HBG-502534,HBG-502535,MA384772, P01954700, S), Tanzania, Lindi, 40 km W of Lindi, near lake Lutamba, 240 m, 19 Jan. 1935.
Shrub or scandent shrub, 0.5–3 m tall; young branches yellow-brown, densely covered with ascending to erect, yellowish hairs 0.3–0.5 mm long, becoming glabrous; old branches brown-blackish. Leaves: petiole 3–6 mm long, 0.6–1.2 mm diam, terete, indument as on branches; lamina oblong-elliptic to obovate, 3.2–9 by 1.8–4.2 cm, 1.4–2.4 times longer than wide, subcoriaceous, not punctate, glaucous below, young leaves above sparsely covered with erect, white hairs, primary vein densely covered with yellowish, short hairs, becoming glabrous, below sparsely covered with appressed to erect, yellowish hairs 0.2–0.5 mm long, primary vein sparsely to densely covered with appressed to erect hairs, base subcordate to truncate, with slightly thickened margin or not, apex obtuse to acute, secondary veins 6 –10 per side, straight to slightly curving upwards, tertiary venation percurrent, slightly raised above. Inflorescences leaf-opposed or extra-axillary, composed of lax (1–)2(–4)-flowered fascicles; sympodial rachis 0–0.5 mm long; pedicels 2–8 mm long, 0.2–0.3 mm diam, fruiting pedicels 11–14 mm long, c. 0.5 mm diam, densely covered with erect, short, yellowish hairs; lower bract absent; upper bract halfway up the pedicel or absent, a tuft of hairs or lanceolate, to 0.3 by 0.1 mm, densely covered with yellow hairs; flower buds globose, all six petals visible at the base, at apex only 3. Flowers bisexual; sepals connate at the base, depressed ovate, 0.5–1 by 0.9–1.6 mm, apex obtuse, covered with appressed, yellow hairs, persistent in fruit or not; receptacle 1–1.3 mm diam, flat; petals yellow, 6, in two whorls, outer petals ovate to elliptic, 2.8–4.4 by 1.9–2.8 mm, outside covered with appressed, yellowish, short hairs, inside covered with glandular-like hairs at the apex, base glabrous, inner petals elliptic, 2.3–3.3 by 1.1–2.1 mm, indument as on outer petals; stamens 15, in one whorl, free, linear-obconical, c. 0.8 mm long, filaments c. 0.4 mm long, thecae extrorse, connective truncate, slightly prolonged outward, not hiding the thecae, glabrous, staminodes absent; carpels c. 10, subcylindric to ellipsoid, c. 1.3 by 0.4 mm, densely hairy, ovules 2, lateral, stigma elongate, c. 0.4 mm long, glabrous. Monocarps 2 – 4, bright red when ripe, ellipsoid, 10–14 by 5–6 mm, glabrous except for a few hairs at the base, apex apiculate, apiculum 0.5–1 mm long, stipes 2–4 mm long, terete. Seed 1, ellipsoid, c. 8 by 5 mm, tawny brown, ends rounded, raphe not visible or very slightly.
Distribution — Tanzania (Lindi, Pwana), Mozambique (Cabo Delgado, Nampula).
Habitat & Ecology — In coastal sand forest, coastal thickets and closed mixed woodland on sandy soils, stony ridges and on ferralitic soils. Altitude: 30– 550 m. Flowering: January to March; fruiting: February, March.
Vernacular names — Mozambique: Sofu (Macua name) (J. de Koning 9682), Nankwankule (Macua name) (E.M.C. Groenendijk 1235).
Preliminary IUCN conservation status — Vulnerable (VU): B2ab(iii). EOO: 30 540 km 2, AOO: 40 km 2. This species is known from 10 collections from 6 locations of which the majority are under threat of habitat destruction.
Note — Monanthotaxis trichantha can be recognised by the combination of a yellow-brown indument, extra-axillary flowers on a short pedicel, and the six petals in one whorl in bud, but overlapping at the top. Vegetatively it looks highly similar to the sympatric M. filipes , but the inflorescences are extra-axillary, the flower has a different aestivation and stamen shape and, moreover, M. filipes has the flowers on long slender pedicels, instead of short ones.
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