Colea purpurescens Seem.

Phillipson, Peter B & Callmander, Martin W., 2013, A clarification of B. C. Seeman’s Malagasy species of Colea Meisn. (Bignoniaceae), Candollea 68 (1), pp. 67-71 : 69

Colea purpurescens Seem. in Trans. Linn. Soc. London 23: 9. 1860.

Typus: MADAGASCAR. Prov. Antsiranana: Forêt de Loucoubé [ Lokobe ], Nossi-bé, 1847-1852, fl., Boivin 2105/2 (lecto-: P [ P00647449 , P00647450 ]!) (lectotypified by PERRIER DE LA BÂTHIE, 1938a: 46) .

Observations. – SEEMAN (1860) based C. purpurescens on a specimen at P of Boivin 2105/2 from Nosy-Be (2 sheets, one with a portion of stem, with an attached entire leaf and a separate detached leaf and the other with a detached leaf and three detached cauliflorous inflorescences) and two sterile specimens from Sainte-Marie on the east coast: Boivin s.n (2 sheets) and Boivin 1821/3. All three collections are all somewhat similar vegetatively. These specimens all bear annotations of the species name in Seeman’s hand, although the species protologue is not explicit about the specimens included - he wrote: “ Colea purpurascens Seem. MSS. in Herb. Paris. Geogr. Distr. Ste. Marie de Madagascar (Boivin!); Nossi-be (Boivin!) ”. PERRIER DE LA BÂTHIE (1938) chose the collection from Nosy-Be as the lectotype. We consider the two sheets to be complementary, and therefore they should be regarded together as a two-sheet lectotype, annotated accordingly as “ Lectotype 1/2” and “ Lectotype 2/2”. The excluded sterile syntype material from Sainte Marie pertains in part to Ophiocolea floribunda (Lindl.) H. Perrier (Boivin s.n. [P00834901, P00834902]) and in part to Rhodocolea racemosa var. humblotiana (Boivin 1821/3 [P00647448]). The latter specimen probably being a part of the same gathering as the type material of Colea hispidissima as discussed above.

Colea purpurascens is very distinctive species endemic to the Sambirano Domain (sensu HUMBERT, 1951, 1955), where it is known only from Nosy Be and the Kalabenono massif, north of Ambanja. It can be easily recognized by its large leaves, often longer than 50 cm, with a purple rachis and long petiolules (ca. 1-1.5 cm).

Conservation status. – With an EOO of 57 km 2, an AOO of 27 km 2 and 2 subpopulations, one encompassed in the protected area network (Lokobe), C. purpurascens is assigned a preliminary status of Endangered (EN B1ab[ii, iii]+2ab[ii, iii]) following the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria ( IUCN, 2012) (calculation following CALLMANDER & al., 2007).