Monotes glaber Sprague (1909: 305)

Meerts, Pierre, Rougelot, Quentin & Sosef, Marc, 2017, Revision of the genus Monotes (Dipterocarpaceae) in D. R. Congo, with implications for Angola and its distinction from Marquesia, Phytotaxa 308 (2), pp. 151-205 : 179-180

7. Monotes glaber Sprague (1909: 305)

Lectotype (designated here): — ZIMBABWE, valley of the Hanyani River , 17 May 1909; Allen 734 (lecto-: K! [barcode K000240353]).

Tree 3–10(–20) m high; branchlets almost glabrous. Leaf: petiole 4–15 mm long, slightly pubescent; blade ovate-elliptic or elliptic to oblong or obovate-oblong, 4–9.5 × 1.5–5 cm, rounded to slightly cordate at the base, obtuse to truncate at the apex; lateral nerves in 7–11 pairs, progressively fading out well before reaching the margin; upper surface finely reticulate, with reticulum generally orange-lepidote, shiny, glabrous, often yellowish green on drying; lower surface concolorous, smooth, glabrous; midrib and lateral nerves slightly depressed above and prominent beneath, reticulation scarcely prominent, orange-coloured. Inflorescences axillary, 2–4 cm long (shorter in the specimen from D.R. Congo), slender, lax (congested in the specimen from D.R. Congo), 4–10-flowered, brownish, glabrescent, on a slender peduncle 1–1.5 cm long (sessile in the in the specimen from D.R. Congo). Flower: pedicel ca. 5 mm long; sepals ca. 3 mm long, densely cottony-tomentose; petals ca. 7.5 mm long, brownish white, shortly greyish- or yellowish-sericeoustomentose; stamens with anthers produced into a very short mucro. Fruit subglobose, 7–12 mm in diameter, sericeous, rounded or slightly conical at the apex; wings 2–3 × 1–1.5 cm, yellow or brownish, elliptic to obovate (description based on Duvigneaud (1961)).

Distribution in D.R. Congo: —A single collection in D.R. Congo, ca. 500 km N of the nearest localities in Zambia.

Distribution elsewhere: — Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Habitat and ecology: —Miombo woodlands and wooded savannahs.

Additional specimen examined:—D.R. CONGO. Upper Katanga: Upemba, Munoi, bifurcation Lupiala, 890 m, savane arbustive, 3 June 1948, de Witte 3902 (BR!).

Discussion:— The cited collection is the only one from D.R. Congo that can be tentatively ascribed to M. glaber . However, it is atypical in having flowers in dense subsessile cymes. It may represent a distinct taxon, but more material is necessary. See also note under M. africanus .

Allen 734 is here chosen as the lectotype, because the other syntype (Baines s.n. (K!)) is mounted on a sheet with a mixture of several gatherings.

References:— Bancroft (1939a: 372); Catarino et al. (2013: 269); Coates Palgrave (1957: 158, Pl. 160; 2005: 799, Fig. 198); De Wildeman (1927a: 173); Duvigneaud (1949: 43; 1961: 415); Eyles (1916: 421); Hutchinson (1931: 253); Kamumvuri et al. (2003: 2192); Lebrun & Stork (1991: 144); Meerts (2016: 223); Van Wyk & Van Wyk (1997: 176); White (1962: 261).