Vitex cuspidata Hiern

Meerts, Pierre, 2018, Synopsis of the genus Vitex (Lamiaceae) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Plant Ecology and Evolution 151 (3), pp. 380-392 : 384

5. Vitex cuspidata Hiern

( Hiern 1900: 835); Baker (1900: 521); De Wildeman (1912a: 467; 1929a: 9); Pieper (1928: 70); Moldenke (1955b: 307; 1956: 357); Lebrun & Stork (1997: 524); Cabral (2013: 196).

– Type: Angola, Golungo Alto, Serra de Alto Queta , Apr. 1856, Welwitsch 5665 (lecto-: BM barcode BM000839706 inadvertently designated by Cabral (2013) (corrected from holotype) ; isolecto-: BM barcode BM000834573, LISU barcodes LISU254233 & LISU223679 , COI barcode COI00077133 , Pbarcode P00442303, Kbarcode K000735142) .

Vitex kapirensis De Wild. ( De Wildeman 1914a: 141; 1914c: 405; 1921: 164); Pieper (1928: 40, 60 & 83); Moldenke (1956: 420); Lebrun & Stork (1997: 524).

– Type: D.R. Congo, Haut-Katanga, Vallée de Kapiri , Feb. 1913, Homblé 1152 (lecto-: BR barcode BR 0000008905864 designated here ; isolecto-: BR barcodes BR 0000008905857, BR 0000008905932 & BR 00000089052925), synon. nov .

A tree. Twigs shortly pale brownish tomentellous. Leaflets 5; petiolules 3–17 mm; lamina narrowly obovate-elliptic, shortly acuminate-cuspidate, pale fulvous tomentellous on veins beneath, glabrous above. Inflorescence of dichasia, long pedunculate, much branched. Flowers unknown. Fruit 10–15 mm long.

Distribution – Subendemic to D.R. Congo, extending to Angola.

Notes – Vitex cuspidata Hiern is known from very few collections mostly from Angola, all of them in fruit ( Cabral 2013). Pubescence of ovary is unknown and, accordingly, the species keys out in two groups in the key. Material from the Sudanian region has also been ascribed to that taxon ( Aubréville 1950: 500) but it is certainly not conspecific. The type material of Vitex kapirensis is a good match of the type material of Vitex cuspidata , with a large inflorescence, relatively small fruits, long-petiolulate elliptic leaflets contracted into a short acumen. V. kapirensis was synonymized ( Meerts 2016) with V. fischeri , but the latter has much larger leaflets and tertiary veins forming a more conspicuous ladder pattern.

Lectotypification of Vitex kapirensis De Wild. The type material of Vitex kapirensis consist of four sheets; the sheet with the most complete material and the most extensive collecting information is selected as the lectotype.