Clerodendrum hildebrandtii Vatke (1882: 536)

Thulin, Mats & Larsson, Anders, 2021, New country records for species of Boraginaceae and Lamiaceae in the Horn of Africa hotspot, Phytotaxa 513 (1), pp. 62-68 : 66-67

Clerodendrum hildebrandtii Vatke (1882: 536)

New record information:— ETHIOPIA. Somali Region, Harerge: 7 km E of Kebri Dehar , Ceelxaar , elev. 500 m, 29 September 2018, flowering and young fruit, Hassan Yusuf Kaariye, photographic record .

This is a new record for Ethiopia ( Fig. 5) based on unmistakable photographs ( Fig. 6 ). Several shrubs, up to 5 m tall, were seen in open bushland at or near banks of a water pond and seasonal streams (Hassan Yusuf Kaariye, pers. comm.).

Clerodendrum hildebrandtii was originally described from Kenya ( Vatke 1882), but is known also from Tanzania, southern Somalia ( Verdcourt 1992, Thulin 2006b), and northern Mozambique ( Fernandes 2005). Plants in Tanzania with pubescent young stems and leaves have been described as C. hildebrandtii var. puberulum Verdcourt (1992: 110 ; as “ puberula ”).

In Kenya and Tanzania C. hildebrandtii is known from various types of bushland and wooded grassland at elevations up to 900 m ( Verdcourt 1992). In Somalia it is known from bushland and woodland on sandy or silty soil at elevations up to 230 m ( Thulin 2006b), whereas in Mozambique it occurs in wooded grassland and bushland on sandy periodically inundated soils at elevations up to about 150 m ( Fernandes 2005). The map in Fig. 6 shows that the Ethiopian record is some 450 km from the nearest localities in Somalia and is the northernmost one known for the species.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Clerodendrum hildebrandtii, from Ethiopia, Somali Region, 7 km E of Kebri Dehar, Ceelxaar, 29 Sep 2018. A. Leafy shoot, showing calyces and bud. B. Young leafy shoot with more rounded leaves and with open flower and bud. Photographs by Hassan Yusuf Kaariye.