Anisophyllea fissipetala Engler & von Brehmer (1917: 377)

Chen, Xin, He, Hai & Zhang, Li-Bing, 2015, A monograph of the Anisophylleaceae (Cucurbitales) with description of 18 new species of Anisophyllea, Phytotaxa 229 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

23. Anisophyllea fissipetala Engler & von Brehmer (1917: 377) ( Figure 44 )

Type :— GUINEA. Kouria, 18 December 1905, A. J. B. Chevalier 14686 (lectotype P-00374867!, here designated, isolectotypes P-00374866!, P-00374868!) .

Shrubs; young branches tenuous, brown, longitudinally striate, shortly pilose, dark grey and glabrous when mature. Leaves dimorphic; small leaves caducous, sessile, lanceolate, 5–8 mm long, 1.0– 1.5 mm wide, base acute, apex acuminate, slightly pilose on both surfaces, nerves obscure; large leaves petiolate, petiole to 4 mm long, pilose with appressed hairs; leaf blade broadly lanceolate, 3–7 cm long, 1.5–3.0 cm wide, base acute, apex acuminate, chartaceous when young, coriaceous when mature, pilose with appressed hairs on both surfaces when young, glabrescent when mature; main longitudinal veins 5–7, arising from base, with 2–3 inner lateral main veins merged with midrib to 8 mm from blade base before separated, impressed adaxially and distinctly raised abaxially, outermost two veins very fine, slightly prominent on both surfaces transverse veins parallel, at angles of 80° with midrib, slightly prominent on both surfaces; veinlets reticulate. Inflorescence an axillary spike, solitary or in 2 or 3 serials, simple or branched at base; rachis ascending, tenuous, to 4 cm long, pilose with appressed hairs, densely with flowers; bracts broadly lanceolate, 1.0– 1.5 mm long, apex acute, sparsely pilose on both surfaces, each often with one axillary flower, early deciduous; floral buds sub-globose, 4-angular, to 1.5 mm in diam., sparsely pubescent; flowers 4-merous, sessile, receptacle cylindric, to 1.5 mm long; sepals broadly ovate, 2 mm long, apex acute, sparsely pubescent; petals broadly ovate, same length as sepals, irregularly and rather deeply laciniate, or rarely separate from petal base, laciniae 5, proximally narrow, glabrous on both sides; stamens 8, free, slightly shorter than petals, filaments to 2 cm long, 1 mm wide, base strongly dilated, distally attenuate, anthers large, sub-globose, 0.8–1.0 mm long; styles 4, base conical, 1–1.5 times as long as wide, densely pubescent, apex not attenuate, not elongated, stigma nearly undeveloped.. Fruits unknown.

66 • Phytotaxa 229 (1) © 2015 Magnolia Press

CHEN ET AL.

Flowering and fruiting: —Flowering in December; fruiting time unknown.

Habitat and distribution: —No information for habitat and elevations. Guinea (Kouria) ( Figure 45 ).

Taxonomic notes: — Anisophyllea fissipetala is a very little known species and is supposed to be an affinity of A. brachystila ( Engler & von Brehmer 1917) or had been identified as A. laurina (Hutchison & Dalziel 1954) . It is

MONOGRAPH OF ANISOPHYLLEACEAE

Phytotaxa 229 (1) © 2015 Magnolia Press • 67 distinguished from the former in its much deep dissection of petals, its strongly broadened base of filaments, and its larger anthers ( Engler & von Brehmer 1917, Engler 1921), while its difference from the latter species is much subtle and mostly also from the extent of dissection of the petals. There are at least three duplicates of the collection Chevalier 14686 deposited at P, which is the only collection cited in the protologue ( Engler & von Brehmer 1917). Here we designate one of them as the lectotype.

Figures

FIGURE 44. Anisophyllea fissipetala Engler & von Brehmer. Flowering branches (A. J. B. Chevalier 14686; isotype, P-00374866).

FIGURE 45. Geographical distribution of Anisophyllea fissipetala Engler & von Brehmer.