Coccinia racemiflora Keraudren, Adansonia, ser. 2, 8(1): 41. 1968.

Holstein, Norbert, 2015, Monograph of Coccinia (Cucurbitaceae), PhytoKeys 54, pp. 1-166 : 102-104

18. Coccinia racemiflora Keraudren, Adansonia, ser. 2, 8(1): 41. 1968.

Coccinia racemiflora Type: Gabon. [ Moyen-Ogooué]: Abanga, C. E. F. A. [Compagnie d’Exploitations Forestière Africaine] lot, male, fl, Jun 1963, N. Hallé 2425 (Holotype: P! [P00346267, digital image: JPS], P! [P00748828, digital image: JPS, P]).

Coccinia racemiflora Type: Gabon. Ibid., female, fl, N. Hallé 2305 (Paratype: P! [P00748829, digital image: JPS, P], P! [P00748830, digital image: JPS]).

Description.

Perennial climber or prostate creeper. Stems up to 5 m, glabrous. Petioles 0.5-2.5 cm, on adaxial side often with line of thin smutty-beige trichomes or glabrous, abaxial side glabrous. Leaves 6.5-11 × 5-9.5 cm, hastate to 3-lobate with central lobe dominating, auriculate (auricles may reach the stem). Lobes triangulate. Leaf margin entire to somewhat angulate, remotely dentate. Teeth darkening when dried. Upper leaf surface with waxy cover glabrous with few-celled clear pustules. Lower leaf surface glabrous with dispersed blackish glands. Probracts up to 2 mm. Tendrils bifid. Male flowers ebracteate in lax, glabrous racemes. Common peduncle up to 2.5 cm, pedicels 0.3-1 cm. Perianth tube glabrous, calyx lobes 0.5 mm, shortly lineal, spreading. Corolla c. 1.2 cm, yellowish to orange, lobes 2-4 mm. Color of filament column, anther head, and pollen sacs not seen. Female flowers ebracteate in lax, glabrous racemes, like in males. Hypanthium glabrous, calyx lobes, and corolla like in males. Ovary glabrous. Style and stigmas not seen. Unripe fruits glabrous, glaucous, globose. Ripe fruits unknown, size c. 1.5 cm in diam.? Seeds 5 × 3 × 1.5 mm (L/W/H), rather symmetrically obovate, flatly lenticular.

Phenology.

Flowering time: January-March, imperfectly known.

Distribution.

Fig. 36. Gabon, S Cameroon. Tropical lowland rainforest.

Taxonomic remarks.

One Hallé 2425 specimen bears a type label but it is not clear whether it was attached by Kéraudren herself. Since both specimens appear to be part of the same individual, both are best to be treated to be holotypes mounted on two sheets.

Remarks.

A collection from the Gamba area in S Gabon (M.A. van Bergen 490 (WAG [WAG0151338])) is morphologically close to Coccinia racemiflora but shares the calyx lobes with Coccinia barteri and thus may represent a hybrid. Using plastid markers, this collection ( Coccinia barteri 6) clusters within Coccinia barteri , while in the nuclear LEAFY -like tree, it clusters with one representative of Coccinia racemiflora , but not with both (Figs 17, 18; Holstein and Renner 2011b). Another collection (F.J. Breteler et al. 8835 (MO, WAG) from Saint Germain area, C Gabon, has calyx lobes typical for Coccinia racemiflora , but a more condensed raceme as in the M.A. van Bergen 490 collection. The hypanthia of the female flowers are urceolate, whereas in male flowers they are cup-shaped. Urceolate hypanthia are also found in some Coccinia barteri forms, and a phylogenetic significance, e.g., by introgressive hybridization, cannot be ruled out.

Specimens examined.

(Selection; in total: 10) Cameroon. South Region: 3 km N of km 20 Kribi-Lolodorf, high forest exploitation, 3°01'N, 10°03'E, J.J. Bos 6590 (WAG [WAG0225514], WAG [WAG0225515]). Gabon. Estuaire: 12 km SW of Kinguélé Falls, N. Hallé & J.F. Villiers 5357 (K, P [P05620813]). Ngounié: 35 km on road from Lebamba to Yéno, 1°58'S, 11°25'E, J.J.F.E. de Wilde & M. Sosef 10456 (WAG [WAG0044628]). Ogooué-Maritime: Rabi North, 1°51.6'S, 9°51'E, I. van Nek 536 (WAG [WAG0044627]).