Coccinia mildbraedii Gilg, Wissenschaft. Ergebn. Deutsch. Zentral-Afrika-Exped. 1907-1908 Herzog Adolf Friedrich zu Mecklenburg, Bot. 2(4): 343. 1914.

Holstein, Norbert, 2015, Monograph of Coccinia (Cucurbitaceae), PhytoKeys 54, pp. 1-166 : 96-98

14. Coccinia mildbraedii Gilg, Wissenschaft. Ergebn. Deutsch. Zentral-Afrika-Exped. 1907-1908 Herzog Adolf Friedrich zu Mecklenburg, Bot. 2(4): 343. 1914.

Coccinia mildbraedii Type: Rwanda. [Western Province]: Kissenye [Gisenyi]. Bugoy [Bugoyi] forest, mixed bamboo forest, c. 2500 m, fl, fr, 30 Oct 1907, J. Mildbraed 1425 (Holotype: B, destroyed).

Coccinia mildbraedii Type: Burundi. Muramvya: [Mt] Teza, 3°13'S, 29°33'E, female, fl, fr, M. Reekmans 7399 (Neotype, designated here: K!; isoneotypes: BR!, EA!, MO!, WAG! [WAG0225430], WAG! [WAG0225433]).

Coccinia ulugurensis Harms in Mildbraed, Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 11: 1091. 1934.

Coccinia mildbraedii Type: Tanzania. [Morogoro]: Uluguru Mts, northwestern side, c. 1350 m, over shrubs at forest margin, male, fl, 14 Mar 1933, H.J.E. Schlieben 3643 (Holotype: B! [B 10 0154929, digital image: B, JPS], isotypes: B! [B 10 0154930, digital image: B, JPS], BM! [BM000815208], BR! [BR0000008886163, K neg. 5264, digital image: JPS], BR! [BR0000008887498, digital image: BR, JPS], G! [G00301594], HBG! [HBG506425, digital image: JPS], LISC! [LISC 002496, digital image: IICT, JPS], M! [M0105771, digital image: JPS], MA! [MA386121, digital image: JPS], MO!, P! [P00346275, digital image: JPS, P], S [S-G-1519, digital image: JPS], Z! [Z-000004448, digital image: Z], photo of isotype from BR! [EA, K]).

Description.

Perennial climber. Stems up to 20 m, when young sometimes villose with whitish, articulate trichomes, later often subglabrous to glabrous. Petioles 4-8 cm long, glabrous or with pale, articulate trichomes. Leaves 9.5-16.5 × 10-16.5 cm, shallowly to profoundly 3- or 5-lobate. Lobes triangulate, ovate to elliptical. Leaf margin entire and denticulate to serrate. Upper leaf surface glabrous or with hyaline to white pustules. Lower leaf surface glabrous or sometimes villose with whitish, articulate trichomes, sometimes with white pustules on the main veins. Probracts up to 3.5 mm. Tendrils simple or bifid. Male flowers in racemes, rarely accompanied by one solitary flower, or one single flower only. Common peduncle 3-4.5 cm, pedicels up to 7 mm, bracts up to 1mm, caducous. Pedicels of solitary flowers up to 2.5 cm, each glabrous. Perianth tube glabrous, calyx lobes up to 2.5 mm, triangulate to lineal, in buds adpressed to corolla, later spreading. Corolla 1.2-2.9 cm long, orange buff, lobes 0.3-1 cm. Filament column and anther head not seen. Pollen sacs cream yellow. Female flowers solitary, pedicel 3-8 cm, glabrous. Hypanthium glabrous, calyx lobes and corolla like in male flowers. Ovary glabrous, ribbed. Style not seen, stigma bulging, yellow. Fruit up to 20 cm long and 5 cm in diameter, unripe green with white mottling and longitudinal green lines, ripening via yellow, orange into deep red. Seeds 6-7 × 5 × 1.5 mm (L/W/H), symmetrically obovate, face flatly lenticular.

Phenology.

Flowering time: January-April, June, August, September, November, December, likely throughout the year.

Distribution.

Fig. 34. NW Burundi, D. R. Congo (North Kivu, South Kivu), Rwanda (Western Province), Tanzania (Iringa: Kipengere Range, Uzungwa Mts; Kigoma: Mahali Mts; Mbeya: Kipengere Range; Morogoro: Uluguru Mts; Ukaguru Mts, Uzungwa Mts), Uganda (Western Region). Elevation 1200-2600 m. Afromontane cloud forests and mist forests, upland rainforests, bamboo forest, in Macaranga kilimandsharica shrubs, rarely in Pennisetum savannas. On basalt and graphitic schist soils, lateritic clay. Introduced in Kenya.

Vernacular names.

Kihunde: mutanga (Deru 485), Kindanda: mwore (Deru 485), Kinande: mombowa (P. Gille 218), Kinyarwanda: umuvunguvungu (G. Bouxin 820), umufungofungo (G. Troupin 11163), umwonkalere (Deru 485), Kisafwa: itangalulu (C.J. Kayombo 1003).

Remarks.

Coccinia ulugurensis cannot be definitely distinguished from Coccinia mildbraedii . The leaves are 3-lobate with rather triangulate lobes towards central Tanzania ( Coccinia ulugurensis ), whereas in the western areas the leaves may be deeper lobate with lanceolate lobes ( Coccinia mildbraedii ). Collections of the Coccinia ulugurensis form also occur in the Ukaguru Mts (M. Thulin & B. Mhoro 2933) from which a close-by located population has been recollected for sequencing (N. Holstein et al. 76) because collections from the Uluguru Mts were not available. However, forms similar to Coccinia ulugurensis also occur in the Western Rift area. Vice-versa, 5-lobate leaves also occur in central Tanzania. Jeffrey (1967) used to distinguish the species also by the occurrence of "crisped hairs", but these do not seem to be specific. Such trichomes also occur in other species, such as Coccinia adoensis , Coccinia grandiflora and Coccinia mackenii , and the fine pubescence as described for Coccinia ulugurensis regularly occurs in young shoots and often disappears later on. Collections that represent the two species cluster together (Fig. 17) and either both species share major parts of their distribution ranges and only differ morphologically in nuances of lobation depth, or they belong to a single species, of which here the latter case is assumed here.

Specimens examined.

(Selection, in total: 76) D.R. Congo. North Kivu: Lubero territory, Bingi, A. Léonard 5415 (BR, EA, WAG [WAG0225422], WAG [WAG0225423], WAG [WAG0225424]). South Kivu: Kabare territory, Marais Musisi, 28°42'E, 2°16'S, P. Bamps 2844 (BR, EA, WAG [WAG0225420]). Kenya. Central Province: Limuru, tea estate, introduced from Tanzania, J.B. Gillett 20185 (EA, MO). Rwanda. Western Province: Shangugu territoire, Mont Bigugu, A.R. Christiaensen 1616 (EA, WAG [WAG0225419]). Southern Province: Rutovu, km 64 on Astrida [Butare]-Shangugu [Cyangugu] route, M. Reynders 394 (BR). Tanzania. Iringa: Dabaga Highlands, Ihangana Forest Reserve, near Kibangu, 18 mls [29 km] S of Dabaga, R. Polhill & S. Paulo 1476 (B, BR, EA, K, P [P05620648], PRE). Kigoma: Mpanda district, Mahali Mts, Sisaga, c. 6°S 30°E, T.G. Jefford & J.G.B. Newbould 1924 (COI, EA). Mbeya: Mbeya rural district, Umalila Forest Reserve, c. 7 km W of Ruanda II on road to Izumbwe (2 km SSE of main peak of Mbogo Mt.), 9°11'S, 33°18'E, R.E. Gereau et al. 5060 (K, MO). Morogoro: Kilosa district, Ukaguru Mts, between Mandege and Masenge, 6°22'S, 36°58'E, M. Thulin & B.E. Mhoro 2792 (DSM, EA, K, MO). Uganda. Western Region: Kigezi district, Virunga chain, northern foot of Mzhavura Mt., Nkanda, H.U. Stauffer 931 (BR, M, Z).