Clerodendrum bipindense Gürke (1900: 296)

Meerts, Pierre, 2023, The genus Clerodendrum (Lamiaceae) in the flora of Central Africa (D. R. Congo, Rwanda, Burundi), Phytotaxa 594 (1), pp. 1-42 : 5-6

2. Clerodendrum bipindense Gürke (1900: 296) ; Baker (1900: 516); Thomas (1936: 72); Huber (1963: 444); Moldenke (1985c: 200); Lebrun & Stork (1997: 510); Pollard (2022: 22).

Type:— CAMEROON. Bipinde Urwaldgebiet , im schatigem Urwald, 16 December 1896, Zenker 1217 (lectotype designated here: K000192854 ] ; isolecto-: G00366314, HBG513425, LE00016565).

A slender liana to 7 m high. Stem reddish, with persistent petiole bases 5–8 mm long, twigs glabrous. Leaf: petiole 1.5–2.5 cm; lamina elliptic to obovate-elliptic, 12–18 × 5–8.5 cm, cuneate to rounded at base, acuminate, glabrous, 4–5 veins on either side, reticulum prominent on both surfaces, margin entire. Inflorescence on old defoliated shoots, often near ground, an ample pyramidal paniculiform thyrse, 7–15 × 10–15 cm, with 3–5 nodes, internodes 1–4 cm, branches 2.5–5 cm, peduncle 5–9 cm, rachis angled, flattened at nodes, puberulent, bracts filiform ca. 4 mm long. Flower: pedicel 5–20(–30) mm, whitish, very shortly crispate-pubescent, calyx broadly infundibuliform, 2.5 mm long and wide, lobes deltoid, ca. 0.5 × 1.5 mm, whitish, subglabrous; corolla tube 15–22 mm, with glandular hairs, lobes 5–7 mm long, yellow to cream; stamens exserted 10–15 mm. fruit: ca. 9 × 7 mm, dark green (not seen).

Distribution in Central Africa:—D.R. Congo (extreme W).

Distribution elsewhere:— Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Fernando Po, Nigeria.

Habitat:—Old rainforest with Staudtia and Coelocaryon ; ca. 300 m.

Selection of representative specimens: — D.R. CONGO. Mayombe: without locality, 1913, de Briey s. n. (BR!), Réserve de la Luki, 11 August 1959, Compère 8 (BR!) .

Lecotypification of Clerodendrum bipindense Gürke. Thomas (1936) designated Preuss 1358 as the lectotype, but that specimen has most likely been destroyed and no duplicate has been found. Most remaining original materials display the diagnostic traits of the species; Zenker 1217 (K) is selected because duplicates have been widely distributed. Remaining syntypes:— CAMEROON. Im lichtem Urwald nordlich von Victoria, 22 November 1894, Preuss 1358 (syn-: B†); bei Batanga auf feuchtem Waldboden, 5 October 1891, Dinklage 1367 (syn-: B; isosyn-: HBG513423, HBG513423; an den Ebea-Fälle des Lokundje, 20 November 1889, Dinklage 288 (syn-: HBG513424 ).