Micronychia danguyana H. Perrier

Mém. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 18: 267 (1944).

— Lectotype (here designated): Decary 5034, Madagascar, Fianarantsoa Prov., Farafangana, Befotaka, 20 Aug. 1926, fl. (P!).

Trees, ca. 6-9 m tall; young twigs ferrugineous pubescent, bark with translucide latex. Leaves coriaceous, persistent; blades obovate to elliptic, 8.5-22 cm long, 4.5-11 cm wide, apex rounded, base cuneate, margin entire; adaxial surface ferrugineous pubescent when young, glabrescent and pubescent only on the veins and margin when older, abaxial surface pubescent and ferrugineous; venation pinnate and cladodromous, midvein prominent below, 20-22 pairs of secondary veins, 2-15 mm apart, arcuate, prominent below, forming an obtuse angle with the midrib at the leaf base. Petiole 20-25 mm long, shallowly channeled, tomentose. Inflorescence terminal paniculate, 13-18 cm long, branches regular, villous; bracts triangular, 1.5-2 mm long, 0.5-1 mm wide, pubescent outside. Flowers 5-merous, unisexual; pedicel 0.5 mm long, pubescent; calyx lobes ovate to deltate, 1.5 mm long, 1.5 mm wide, sericeous outside, imbricate; corolla lobes obovate, 5 mm long, 2 mm wide, pubescent outside, red or pink, imbricate; stamens 5; in staminate flowers filaments 5.5 mm long, sigmoid, inserted basally on the outer surface of the disk, glabrous; anthers ca. 1 mm long, ovate, yellow, glabrous, dorsifixed, introrse, dehiscent by longitudinal slits; disk dish-shaped and crenulate, glabrous, ovary rudimentary. Pistillate flowers and fruit unknown.

HABITAT, DISTRIBUTION AND PHENOLOGY. — Micronychia danguyana occurs in the rainforest of southeastern Madagascar (Fig. 2). It has been collected in flower and young fruit in late August.

VERNACULAR NAME. — Karakatafy.

This species is sometimes confused with M. macrophylla, but its leaves are more obovate, much smaller in size, and lack a decurrent base, making its petiole length much greater than that of M. macrophylla (20-25 mm vs. 7-15 mm).

PERRIER DE LA BÂTHIE (1944) cited two collections when he first published M. danguyana, which constitute syntypes. One of them (Decary 5034) has been selected as the lectotype because it has flowers.

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL EXAMINED. — MADAGASCAR: Decary 4767, Fianarantsoa Prov., Farafangana, Befotaka, 13 Aug. 1926, fr. (P!) .