Stuhlmannia Taub. in H.G.A. Engler, Pflanzenw. Ost.-Afr., C: 201. 1895.

Fig. 39

Type.

Stuhlmannia moavii Taub.

Description.

Unarmed trees. Stipules minute conical projections, caducous. Leaves pinnate or bipinnate and then ending in a pair of pinnae, pinnae in (1) 2-10 opposite pairs, with reddish glands; leaflets in 3-12 opposite to subopposite pairs per pinna, eglandular or with red glands on the lower surface. Inflorescence a terminal or axillary raceme. Flowers bisexual, sub-actinomorphic; hypanthium persisting as a shallow cup at the pedicel apex as the fruit matures; sepals 5, caducous, valvate in bud, lowermost sepal not conspicuously differentiated in bud; petals 5, free, yellow, the median petal with red markings, slightly smaller than the other 4; stamens 10, filaments pubescent; ovary stipitate, with red sessile glands, glabrous to pubescent. Fruit a flattened, oblong, woody, elliptic legume, dehiscing along both sutures, valves twisting. Seeds flattened, sub-circular to ovate, brown.

Chromosome number.

Unknown.

Included species and geographic distribution.

Monospecific ( S. moavii), in East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania) and northern Madagascar (Fig. 39).

Ecology.

Seasonally dry tropical forest, woodland on limestone and in riverine forest.

Etymology.

Named by Taubert for the German naturalist Franz Ludwig Stuhlmann (1863-1928).

Human uses.

Unknown.

Notes.

The genus is phylogenetically and morphologically closely related to Cordeauxia (Fig. 34), and species in both genera are known to have reddish secretory multicellular glands on the leaflets. Previous authors have recognised bipinnate and pinnate species as distinct taxa: Caesalpinia insolita (Harms) Brenan & J.B. Gillett (≡ Hoffmannseggia insolita Harms) and Caesalpinia dalei Brenan & J.B. Gillett, respectively, but Lewis (1996), in support of his synonymising of the two species, commented that specimens have been collected with both pinnate and bipinnate leaves present on the same branch of an individual tree.

Taxonomic references.

Brenan (1967); Capuron (1967, under C. insolita); Du Puy and Rabevohitra (2002, under C. insolita); Gagnon et al. (2016); Lemmens (2010); Lewis (1996, 2005b).