Didelotia

Burgt, X. M. van der, 2016, Didelotia korupensis and Tessmannia korupensis (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae), two new tree species from Korup National Park in Cameroon, Blumea 61 (1), pp. 51-58 : 52

Didelotia

The genus Didelotia Baill. was described by Baillon in 1865. A revision of the genus was published by Oldeman (1964); he recognized seven species already described to which he added Didelotia idae J.Léonard, Oldeman & de Wit. Two additional new species have been described since then: Didelotia morelii Aubrév. ( Aubréville 1968: 255) and Didelotia pauli­sitai Letouzey (1977) . Didelotia ledermannii Harms was considered a synonym by Oldeman (1964), but is likely a valid species (Wieringa pers. comm.). Including the new species presented here, the genus Didelotia now consists of 12 species.

The species in the genus Didelotia are characterised by their inflorescence and flower morphology. The main axis of the inflorescence is long, slender and pendant, with short, densely flowered, lateral axes, inserted alternately along the main axis. The usually 5-merous flower has two valvate bracteoles, triangular sepals, linear petals, 5 stamens and 5 filiform staminodes. The pod has 1–2 often indistinct longitudinal veins. The number of pairs of leaflets of Didelotia species shows a large inter-specific variability, as is often the case in the larger African genera of the Legume tribe Detarieae . The leaves can be unifoliolate ( Didelotia idae , D. unifoliolata J.Léonard ); bifoliolate ( D. africana Baill. , D. letouzeyi Pellegr. ); 3–7-jugate ( D. afzelii , D. engleri Dinkl. & Harms , D. ledermannii ; as well as the new species presented here) or 8–35-jugate ( D. brevipaniculata J.Léonard , D. minutiflora (A.Chev.) J.Léonard , D. morelii and D. pauli­sitai ).