Dracaena perrottetii Baker

Damen, T. H. J., Burg, W. J. van der, Wiland-Szymańska, J. & Sosef, M. S. M., 2018, Taxonomic novelties in African Dracaena (Dracaenaceae), Blumea 63 (1), pp. 31-53 : 43

17. Dracaena perrottetii Baker — Map 16

Dracaena perrottetii Baker (1874) 165. — Lectotype (designated by Bos 1984): Perrottet 785 (lecto G [G00018458]; isolecto K, P (2 sheets), WAGspirit), Senegal, Casamance, 5 Apr. 1829.

Dracaena perrottetii Baker var. minor Baker (1875) 529. — Type: Heudelot s.n. (holo K [K000255907]; iso P [P 02152538, P 02152539]) (erroneously cited in Bos (1984) as Heudelot 2838), Guinea,Rio Nunez,1838, syn. nov.

Pleomele heudelotii N.E.Br. (1914) 278. — Type: as for D. perrottetii var. minor , syn. nov.

Distribution — Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon.

Notes — Dracaena nitens , D. mannii , and D. usambarensis are very similar to D. perrottetii and according to Bos (1984) are even synonyms of the same species. However, D. perrottetii

Map 16 Distribution of Dracaena perrottetii Baker.

differs from the other species in having subfalcate leaves usually wider than 1.5 cm, and is reinstated here.

Dracaena perrottetii var. minor was described from a plant with smaller leaves and a simple inflorescence. Studied material shows that leaves in D. perrottetii are polymorphic and that both branched and unbranched inflorescences occur even on the same plant. Therefore we do not recognise such a form as a distinct taxon.

Pleomele heudelotii was described based on the same material as D. perrottetii var. minor .