Sirdavidia Couvreur & Sauquet, 2015

Couvreur, Thomas L. P., Niangadouma, Raoul, Sonke, Bonaventure & Sauquet, Herve, 2015, Sirdavidia, an extraordinary new genus of Annonaceae from Gabon, PhytoKeys 46, pp. 1-19 : 3-5

Sirdavidia Couvreur & Sauquet gen. nov.

Diagnosis.

Genus with Solanum -like flowers, inflorescences axillary or cauliflorous, sepals valvate, petals valvate, subequal, recurved at anthesis, red; stamens bright yellow; carpel single; monocarp sessile, placentation lateral, ovules uniseriate.

Type species.

Sirdavidia solannona Couvreur & Sauquet.

Small trees with distichous, simple pinnately veined leaves with an entire margin and reticulate third-order venation. Species androdioecious (?) (flowers unisexual staminate or bisexual). Inflorescences one to three-flowered, axillary on old branches or at base of trunk, with one to three short sympodial rachilla. Flowers actinomorphic. Perianth of 9 free tepals in 3 alternate, valvate whorls of 3 each, differentiated in outer tepals (sepals) and middle and inner tepals (petals). Petals similar (subequal in length), spreading horizontally or reflexed at anthesis. Stamens 16-19, free, basifixed with a very short filament. Anthers introrse, probably opening by two longitudinal slits, connectives tongue shaped, yellow. Carpel one, densely pubescent, stigma cylindrical coiled, ovules 7-10, uniseriate. Monocarp sessile, cylindrical densely pubescent.

A single species only known to Gabon (Fig. 2).

Etymology.

We dedicate this new genus to Sir David Attenborough, British broadcaster and naturalist, in honor of his lifelong dedication to nature, conservation, evolution and natural history programs. His passion for nature have influenced and inspired a generation of biologists and naturalists, including the first and senior authors of this paper.