Xylopia mildbraedii Diels, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 53: 444. 1915.

Johnson, David M. & Murray, Nancy A., 2018, A revision of Xylopia L. (Annonaceae): the species of Tropical Africa, PhytoKeys 97, pp. 1-252 : 152-154

35. Xylopia mildbraedii Diels, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 53: 444. 1915. Fig. 42C-D

Xylopia lastoursvillii Pellegrin, Mém. Soc. Bot. France 1949: 71. 1950. Type. GABON. Ogooué-Lolo Province, région de Lastoursville, Koula motou, 13 Apr 1931, G. Le Testu 8742 (lectotype, here designated: P! [00169128]; isolectotypes: BM! [000511051], BR! [0000008825308], LISC! [000404], OWU! P! [00169129, 00169130], WAG! [0247282, 0247283]).

Type.

CAMEROON. South Region, Bezirk Kribi, im Vorland mit eizeln Hügeln, bei Beson , 45 km östlich Groß-Batanga, bei 100-400 m, 22 Jul 1911, J. Mildbraed 6055 (holotype: B! [100153148]; isotypes: HBG! [502477, 502478].

Description.

Tree up to 9 m tall, rarely a shrub 3-4 m, d.b.h. up to 9 cm, trunk crooked, with diverging branches; bark smooth. Twigs brown, appressed-pubescent, the hairs 0.1-0.5 mm long, eventually gray-brown to orange-brown, glabrate; no nodes seen with two axillary branches. Leaf with larger blades 9.5-17.5 cm long, 3.2-5.6 cm wide, chartaceous, often discolorous but sometimes concolorous, elliptic to oblong, occasionally oblanceolate or lanceolate, apex acuminate, the acumen 8-19 mm long, base broadly cuneate, less commonly cuneate or rounded, glabrous except for the pubescent midrib adaxially, thinly and finely sericeous to glabrate abaxially, midrib impressed adaxially, raised abaxially, secondary veins indistinctly brochidodromous and slightly arcuate, 12-20 per side, diverging at 45-70° from the midrib, these and higher-order veins indistinct to slightly raised adaxially and slightly raised abaxially, rarely forming a raised reticulum on both surfaces; petiole 2-5 mm long, canaliculate, sparsely pubescent. Inflorescences axillary, 1-flowered, rarely 2-flowered from a second axillary pedicel superposed above the first, pubescent; peduncles absent; pedicels 3.7-6.4 (-8.5) mm long, 1.0-1.6 mm thick; bracts 3-4, evenly spaced along the pedicel, caducous or occasionally with uppermost persistent, 1.9-3.5 mm long, broadly triangular to semicircular, apex obtuse, acute, or apiculate; buds linear, sometime falcate, apex obtuse. Sepals slightly spreading at anthesis, 1/3-connate, 4.0-6.5 mm long, 3.6-5 mm wide, coriaceous, broadly triangular, apex acute, pubescent abaxially. Petals cream-colored in vivo; outer petals somewhat spreading at anthesis, 45-79 mm long, 3.6-5.5 mm wide at base, 2.2-4.1 mm wide at midpoint, fleshy, linear-ligulate, apex obtuse, with a longitudinal groove down the midline and puberulent adaxially, with a weak longitudinal ridge and sericeous, the hairs densest at the base, abaxially; inner petals more or less erect at anthesis, 35-61 mm long, 4.9-5.4 mm wide at base, 1.9-3.3 mm wide at midpoint, fleshy, linear, apex acute, base with undifferentiated margin, puberulent on both surfaces with a sericeous tuft just above the basal concavity adaxially, the hairs somewhat connivent. Stamens ca. 100; fertile stamens 1.4-1.9 mm long, narrowly oblong to clavate, apex of connective 0.3-0.5 mm long, capitate, overhanging anther thecae, papillate, anthers 11-12-locellate, filament 0.4-0.6 mm long; outer staminodes ca. 1.6 mm long, clavate, apex rounded to truncate; inner staminodes apparently absent; staminal cone ca. 2 mm in diameter, ca. 0.6 mm high, rudimentary, concealing only the very bases of the ovaries. Carpels 10-11; ovaries 1.2-1.5 mm long, oblong, densely pubescent, stigmas connivent, 4.5-6 mm long, linear, bearing a tuft of hairs at apex and pilose on the sides. Torus flat, 2.7-3.3 mm in diameter. Fruit of up to 14 sparsely pubescent to glabrate monocarps borne on a pedicel 5-7 mm long, 5-7 mm thick, glabrate; torus 11-13 mm in diameter, 7-8 mm high, irregularly depressed-globose. Monocarps with pale green or yellowish green exterior and red to pink-red endocarp in vivo, 4.2-6.5 cm long, 1.3-1.5 cm wide, ca. 1.1 cm thick, oblong and sometimes falciform, weakly torulose, apex with a curved beak 1 mm long, base contracted into a stipe 9-15 mm long, 3-5 mm thick, flattened and grooved longitudinally, obliquely wrinkled, verrucose; pericarp ca. 0.5 mm thick. Seeds 5-9 per monocarp, in a single row, lying oblique to long axis, 12.5-14 mm long, 6.5-8.5 mm wide, 5-7 mm thick, irregularly ellipsoid to oblong, wedge-shaped to oblong in cross-section, obliquely truncate at micropylar end, rounded at chalazal end, dark brown, smooth, shiny, raphe/antiraphe not evident, micropylar scar 3.5-4 mm long, 1.5-3 mm wide, ovate to elliptic, sometimes with a slight “beak” protruding through the center; sarcotesta frosty greenish blue, greenish white, or gray in vivo, sometimes visible as a white crust on dried seeds; aril absent.

Phenology.

Specimens with flowers have been collected in January, March, April, June, July, and December, and with fruits from December to February and in September.

Distribution

(Fig. 46 ). Occurs in southern Cameroon and Gabon, in primary and older secondary forest at elevations of 100-520 m.

Additional specimens examined.

CAMEROON. 20 km from Kribi, Lolodorf road, 3°00'N, 10°03'E, newly opened forest exploitation (SFIA logging road), 9 Jun 1969 (fl), Bos 4772 (B, M, MO, WAG-3 sheets); without definite locality, M. Elad 1253 (WAG); forêt de Bakaka, 3 km E of Eboné, a village on km 11 Nkongsamba-Loum road, 4°50'N, 9°54'E, 520 m, 13 Sep 1971 (fr), Leeuwenberg 8362 (BR, K, MO, WAG-2 sheets) . GABON. Nyanga: ca. 50 km SW of Doussala , 2°36'S, 10°35'E, 10 Jan 1987 (fl), Reitsma & Reitsma 2816 (MO, NY, RSA, WAG) .- Ogooué-Ivindo: Mboundou, SE Makokou, 27 Feb 1961 (fr), Hallé 1350 (P); eastern border of Lope-Okanda Reserve , along roads south of SEG lumber camp, west of Offoue River , 0°27'S, 11°45'E, 200 m, 15 Jan 1993 (fr), McPherson 16070 (MO).- Ogooué-Lolo: about 40 km E of Lastoursville, ca. 0°50'S, 13°05'E, 14 Dec 1993 (fl, fr), Breteler & Breteler-Klein 12632 (WAG-2 sheets); Lastoursville , 27 Dec 1929 (fl), Le Testu 7824 (BM, OWU, P).- Ogooué-Maritime: Rabi, ca. 1°55'S, 9°50'E, 26 Mar 1990 (fl), Breteler et al. 9526 (WAG) .

Xylopia mildbraedii is a seldom-collected species, restricted in distribution. It is readily distinguished from its congeners by the petals reaching 79 mm in length, surpassing all other African Xylopia species. It most resembles X. thomsonii and X. unguiculata in its overall appearance, but differs in having the hairs on the young twigs short and tightly appressed, larger leaves with more numerous and slightly arcuate secondary veins, a pronounced tuft of hairs on the inside of the inner petal base, a rudimentary to absent staminal cone, and larger and thicker-walled monocarps containing larger seeds. With these differences established, it was possible to determine that " Xylopia species A" of Le Thomas (1969) is a fruiting collection of X. mildbraedii . The sterile collections Reitsma & Reitsma 2732 and Sosef et al. 1466, both from Gabon, may also represent this species.

We calculated an EOO of 129,258 km 2 and an AOO of 36 km 2 for Xylopia mildbraedii . Onana and Cheek (2011) gave it a conservation assessment of Endangered, B2ab(iii).

Examination of the type material suggests that Pellegrin based the description of Xylopia lastoursvillii primarily upon one Paris collection of Le Testu 8742, which bears detailed drawings of flower parts; this collection is chosen as lectotype of this name.

Figures

Figure 42. Xylopia pynaertii, X. mildbraedii, and X. hypolampra. A, B X. pynaertii A Habit B Fruit C, D X. mildbraedii C Fruit D Habit E, F X. hypolampra E Habit F Fruit. A from McPherson 13825 (MO) B from Letouzey 12317 (P) C from Breteler et al. 12632 (WAG) D from Reitsma & Reitsma 2816 (NY) E from Le Testu 2023 (F) F from Le Testu 8094 (BM).

Figure 46. Distributions of Xylopia talbotii and X. mildbraedii. Bolder lines represent country borders, fainter lines lakes and major rivers.