Revision and new species of the African genus Mischogyne (Annonaceae)
Author
Gosline, George
Author
Marshall, Andrew R.
Author
Larridon, Isabel
text
Kew Bulletin
2019
2019-06-30
74
28
1
23
journal article
10.1007/S12225-019-9804-7
1ed5ac34-1b70-4189-a175-7526621e1705
0075-5974
3345047
4.
Mischogyne iddii
Gosline & A.R.Marshall
sp. nov.
Type:
Tanzania
, Bomole –
PSP
13. Amani Nature Reserve, East Usambara Mountains,
15 Oct. 2007
,
Marshall
1567 (
holotype
K!) [K000875075].
http://www.ipni.org/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:60478312-2
Tree
,
10 – 20 m
tall, up to
13 – 45 cm
in diam.,
trunk
cylindrical; old branches glabrous; young branches and twigs glabrous to sparsely pubescent quickly becoming glabrous, hairs
0.3 – 0.6 mm
long, appressed, brown.
Bark
light grey, smooth with horizontally-orientated eyes and fine striations; slash: yellow-brown with a dark brown edge.
Petioles
6 – 8 mm
long,
2 – 4 mm
in diam., sparsely pubescent with hairs
0.3 – 0.6 mm
long, appressed, white, becoming glabrous, drying black.
Leaf
lamina elliptic to narrowly elliptic, often slightly falcate,
16 – 32 cm
long,
6 – 8 cm
wide, length:width ratio 1.2 – 4, apex attenuate to acuminate, acumen triangular
1 – 2 cm
long,
1 – 1.5 cm
at base, leaf base cuneate; coriaceous, slightly bullate when fresh, glabrous on both sides, glossy green above when fresh, drying matte, lighter below; midrib glabrous; secondary veins 10 – 14, glabrous, ascending at 30° – 45° from midrib, curving upwards to 10 – 20% of length of leaf, anastomosing near margin.
Floaeers
: buds
1.5 – 2 cm
long,
1 cm
in diam. No bracts seen. Flowering pedicel
0.5 – 0.8 cm
long,
0.5 – 1 mm
in diam., pubescent, hairs
0.2 – 0.3 mm
long, appressed, white to light brown.
Sepals
ovate to narrowly ovate,
1.5 – 2 cm
long,
0.5 – 0.7 cm
wide, length:width ratio 2.5 – 3, base rounded, apex acute, densely pubescent outside, same as on pedicel, tomentose inside with soft semi-erect hairs
0.05 – 0.1 mm
long; light green when fresh, light brown in herbarium material.
Petals
narrowly ovate,
1.5 – 2 cm
long,
0.3 – 0.8 cm
wide, length:width ratio 2.5 – 3, base truncate, apex acute, outer surface densely pubescent, hairs
0.3 – 0.6 mm
long, appressed light brown, inner surface tomentose with soft semi-erect hairs
0.05 – 0.1 mm
long becoming glabrous, white when fresh, dark brown when glabrous in herbarium material.
Torus
cylindrical,
4 – 7 mm
. long,
2 – 3 mm
diam., densely pubescent with hairs
0.2 – 0.4 mm
long.
Stamens
4 – 4.5 mm
long; connective with an indumentum of white hairs
0.1 – 0.2 mm
long, connective extending
0.1 – 0.6 mm
beyond anthers ending in a tuft of hairs
0.1 – 0.3 mm
long.
Carpels
6 – 9, 4 –
6 mm
long,
1 – 1.5 mm
in diam., densely pubescent, hairs
0.6 – 0.8 mm
long, appressed upwards, stigma sessile or on a short style to
0.1 mm
long, bilobed,
0.7 – 1.2 mm
long and wide, glabrous, yellow drying black.
Fruits
unknown (
Figs 6
,
7
).
Fig. 5.
Mischogyne gabonensis
. A flowers (
Luke
11941b); B post-anthesis flower (
Couvreur
1033); C fruit longitudinally sectioned along long axis (
ĸenfack
1545); D seeds showing white hairs (
ĸenfack
1545). PHOTOS:
A
QUENTIN LUKE,
B
THOMAS COUVREUR,
C
,
D
DAVID KENFACK.
RECOGNITION
. Similar to
Mischogyne elliotiana
and
Mischogyne congensis
.
Differing in being a mediumsized tree to
20 m
tall rather than a small tree to
8 – 10 m
tall; in leaves being larger, up to
32 cm
long rather than to
20 cm
.
DISTRIBUTION
.
Tanzania
. Usambara Mountains (
Map 1
).
SPECIMENS EXAMINED.
TANZANIA
.
Tanga
:
Amani Nature Reserve
,
East Usambara Mts
,
UTM 457800E
,
9436950
S,
15 Oct. 2007
,
A. R. Marshall
1567 (
K
! [
holotype
]), 1271 (
K
!);
Masumbai F.R.
, W Usambaras,
Forest
below road from
Bambuli
to
Mazumbai
c.
2 km
before
Mazumbai
,
8 Jan. 1976
,
Cribb
&
Grey-Wilson
10082 (
DAR
,
EA
, K!)
.
HABITAT
. Mature forest. Growing with
Alchornea hirtella
Benth.
,
Allanblackia stuhlmannii
(Engl.) Engl.
,
Alsodeiopsis schumannii
(Engl.) Engl.
,
Anisophyllea obtusifolia
Engl. & Brehmer
,
Anthocleista grandiflora
Gilg
,
Aoranthe penduliflora
(K.Schum.) Somers
,
Bersama abyssinica
Fresen.
,
Blighia unijugata
Baker
,
Celtis
africa- na
Burm.f.,
Cephalosphaera usambarensis
(Warb.) Warb.
,
Chrysophyllum
sp. cf.
gorungosanum
Engl.,
Clematis dolichopoda
Brenan
,
Cola
sp. cf.
greenaeayi
Brenan,
Cynometra brachyrachis
Harms
,
Diospyros loureiriana
G.Don
,
Diospyros occulta
F.White
,
Drypetes usambarica
(Pax) Hutch.
,
Englerodendron usambarense
Harms
,
Entandrophragma excelsum
(Dawe & Sprague) Sprague
,
Ficus lutea
Vahl
,
Ficus natalensis
Hochst.
,
Isoberlinia schefflerii
(Harms) Greenway
,
Maesopsis eminii
Engl.
,
Magnistipula butayei
De Wild.
,
Maranthes goetzeniana
(Engl.) Prance
,
Mesogyne insignis
Engl.
,
Myrianthus holstii
Engl.
,
Neaetonia buchananii
(Baker f.) G.C.C.Gilbert & Boutique,
Parinari excelsa
Sabine
,
Placodiscus amaniensis
Radlk.
,
Polyalthia suaoeolens
Engl. & Diels var.
suaoeolens
,
Pouteria
adolfi- friedericii
(Engl.) A.Meeuse,
Quassia undulata
(Guill. & Perr.) D.Dietr.
,
Raaesonia lucida
Harv. & Sond.
,
Schefflerodendron usambarense
Harms ex Engl.
,
Shirakiopsis elliptica
(Hochst.) Esser
,
Sorindeia madagascariensis
DC.,
Suregada zanzibariensis
Baill.
,
Synsepalum cerasiferum
(Welw.) T.D.Penn.
,
Trichilia dregeana
Sond.
,
Trilepisium madagascariense
DC.,
Xylopia aethiopica
(Dunal) A.Rich.
,
Xymalos monospora
(Harv.) Baill.
,
Zanthoxylum gilletii
(De Wild.) P.G.Waterman
,
Zenkerella capparidacea
(Taub.) J.Léonard subsp.
grotei
(Harms) Temu (
Marshall
et al.
2012
)
.
Fig. 6.
Mischogyne iddii
. A habit, flowering branch; B opening flower bud; C vein network detail; D open flower; E inner face of sepal; F inner face of outer petal; G inner face of inner petal; H detail of hairs on outer face of petal; J detail of hairs on inner face of petal; K carpels on androgynophore with two stamens in situ; L carpel; M stigmatic region of L viewed from left side; N outer face of stamen; P inner face of stamen. From
Marshall
1567 (K) and photos. DRAWN BY ANDREW BROWN.
CONSERVATION STATUS
. This tree is known from two locations, one each in the Eastern and Western Usambara Mountains, one in the nationally recognised Amani Nature Reserve and the other in the private Mazumbai reserve managed by the Sokoine University of Agriculture. Both reserves are well managed (
Santos 2017
). However, a study of ecotourism in Amani shows little benefit to local villages (
Shoo & Songorwa 2013
). Cutting of trees for poles continues to be a problem in many Eastern Arc reserves (W. R. Q. Luke, A. R. Marshall, pers. obs.). The reserves are “islands” within a deforested landscape with extensive clearance of forest in neighbouring areas. Invasive tree species, particularly
Maesopsis eminii
Engl.
are also growing extensively in the forest and hence competing with native trees for space (A. R. Marshall pers. obs.). The forest inventory of the Amani Nature Reserve records just six trees of this taxon (A. R. Marshall pers. com.). The Usambaras have been intensively studied for decades. The fact that only seven trees have ever been observed indicates a very small population. We estimate that it is likely that less than fifty individuals remain and that an
IUCN
category of Critically Endangered under criterion D is applicable. We take a slightly more conservative approach and, with an AOO of
8 km
2
based on a
2 km
grid and two locations, suggest an
IUCN
category of Endangered B2ab(iii).
PHENOLOGY
. Flowering in January, November.
VERNACULAR
NAMES
. Zonozono (Msofu).
USES
. None recorded.
ETYMOLOGY
. Named in honour of Iddi Rajabu, resident botanist at the Amani Nature Reserve and co-author of the
Trees of Amani Nature Reseroe
field guide.
NOTES
. The biological importance of the Eastern Arc Mountains in
Kenya
and
Tanzania
is well known (
Burgess
et al.
2007
).
Mischogyne iddii
joins the long list of Eastern Arc endemic species (
ibid.
), and new species of
Annonaceae
continue to be discovered (Couvreur
et al.
2006; Couvreur & Luke 2010; Deroin & Luke 2005; Marshall
et al.
2016;
Verdcourt 1986
). Couvreur
et al.
(2006) summarise the high diversity of
Annonaceae
in
Tanzania
and this species brings the number of genera in
Tanzania
to 29.