Taxonomic treatment of Abrahamia Randrian. & Lowry, a new genus of Anacardiaceae from Madagascar
Author
Randrianasolo, Armand
William L. Brown Center, Missouri Botanical Garden, P. O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO, 63166 - 0299, U. S. A.
armand.randrianasolo@mobot.org
Author
Lowry II, Porter P.
Africa and Madagascar Program, Missouri Botanical Garden, P. O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO, 63166 - 0299, U. S. A. & Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), UMR 7205, Centre national de la Recherche scientifique / Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle / École pratique des Hautes Etudes, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Sorbonne Universités, C. P. 39, 57 rue Cuvier, 75231 Paris CEDEX 05, France.
Author
Schatz, George E.
Africa and Madagascar Program, Missouri Botanical Garden, P. O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO, 63166 - 0299, U. S. A.
text
Boissiera
2017
2017-12-27
71
1
152
journal article
http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7618113
1649f36a-59e2-45e0-b539-690629481801
978-2-8277-0087-5
0373-2975
7618113
26.
Abrahamia pauciflora
(Engl.) Randrian. & Lowry
, comb. nova.
≡
Protorhus pauciflora
Engl.
in A. DC. & C. DC., Monogr. Phan. 4: 313. 1883.
Lectotypus
(designated here):
MADAGASCAR
.
Prov. Antsiranana
: Rég.
Diana
,
Nossibe
,
I.1850
, fl. & y. fr.,
Boivin
2257
(
P
[
P00580352
]!;
isolecto-:
G
!,
P
[
P00364873
,
P06774888
,
P06774892
]!,
MO-
6684876
!,
TAN
!).
Description
Trees
6-11 m
tall,
11-15 cm
DBH; young branch tips covered with short and appressed indument.
Leaves
opposite or subopposite; blade obovate, 3.9-9.2
3
1.8-4 cm
, chartaceous, apex rounded to emarginate, margin undulate, base cuneate to attenuate, adaxial surface glabrous, abaxial surface with scattered short appressed indument, venation craspedodromous, midvein prominent abaxially, secondary veins 14-17 pairs, more or less parallel and ascending,
3-9 mm
apart, widely spaced at leaf mid-section, raised on both surfaces or some impressed near margin, tertiary veins impressed, not very visible, especially on adaxial surface; petiole
8-15 mm
, c.
1 mm
in diam., canaliculate on adaxial surface, covered with short, appressed indument when young, glabrescent.
Inflorescence
always axillary, a panicle, very short, up to
1.5 cm
long, with no more than 5 flowers, axes strigose.
Male flowers
unknown.
Female flowers
5-merous, small, c.
1 mm
long, subtended by a triangular bract with indument; pedicel
1 mm
long; calyx lobes depressed ovate, very small, 0.5
3
1 mm
, glabrous on both surfaces; corolla lobes ovate, thick, c.
2 x
1 mm
, glabrous on both surfaces; staminodes with filaments c.
0.8 mm
long, glabrous, anthers c.
0.3 mm
long, ovoid, sterile, glabrous; disk cupuliform, glabrous, c.
1.5 mm
in diam.; ovary spherical glabrous, style short, thick,
0.5 mm
long.
Fruits
unknown.
Distribution, ecology and phenology
Abrahamia pauciflora
is restricted to NW
Madagascar
, where it has been collected on the island of Nosy Be and in the Ambongo-Boina area (
Map 6
) in humid forest. Material with floral buds and flowers has been collected in November and January (the fruiting period is not known).
Conservation status
With a minimum AOO of
4 km
2
and a single known extant subpopulation, which is within a protected area (Ampasindava), and considering that the historical locality at Maevarano was documented in 1908, well more than 3 generations ago,
A. pauciflora
is assigned a preliminary conservation status of “Least Concern’’ [LC] using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (
IUCN, 2012
).
Notes
Abrahamia pauciflora
can easily be distinguished from other members of the genus by the combination of its leaves with an attenuate base and very widely spaced secondary veins (to
9 mm
apart in the median section of the blade), and very short inflorescence (not exceeding
1.5 cm
long) usually bearing only 1-5 flowers.
Contrary to what is indicated in many online databases, the name
Protorhus pauciflora
(≡
Abrahamia pauciflora
) was not treated in
ENGLER (1881: 421
or 422), but rather was published two years later by the same author in his treatment of
Anacardiaceae
for the
Monographiae Phanerogamarum
(
ENGLER, 1883: 313
). Curiously,
ENGLER (1883)
erroneously cited that name as having been published in his earlier work (
ENGLER, 1881: 421
).
While one of the specimens of
Boivin
2257
in
the Paris herbarium has the handwritten word ‘type’ on the label, this was probably added subsequent to the publication of
Protorhus pauciflora
. We have chosen to designate this specimen as the
lectotype
because it bears Boivin’s original label. Two
additional specimens
of
Boivin 2257
have labels indicating that they came from
Mayotte
in the Comoro Islands, but as indicated subsequently by Perrier de la Bâthie (in herb.), they are without question part of the same gathering as the material from Nossi Be.
Additional material examined
MADAGASCAR
. Prov.
Antsiranana
:
Ampasindava
, forêt
d’Andranomatavy
,
13°40’40’’S
47°58’35’’E
,
215 m
,
2.XII.2009
, bud,
Ammann
et al. 467
(
G
,
MO
,
P
,
TEF
)
;
ibid. loco
,
13°40’04’’S
47°59’21’’E
,
295 m
,
25.XI.2009
, fl.,
Madiomanana
et al. 272
(
G
,
MO
,
P
,
TEF
)
.
Prov.
Mahajanga
:
Morarivo
,
Maevarano
, près
de Majunga
, [
15°56’S
46°31’E
],
VII.1908
, ster.,
Perrier de la Bâthie
2341
(
P
).