Ancistrocladus ealaensis
Ancistrocladus ealaensis in Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belgique 82: 30, f. 1A–B. 1949 sec. Taylor & al. 20051
- Holotype: Equateur: Forestier Central, environs d'Eala, riviere Yuli, 23 Nov. 1946, /. Leonard 1057 (holotype, BR; isotypes, BR, K, P, YBI).
Notes
This species is distinctive due to its leaves that are most often rather narrowly acuminate, its slender ("delicate", Leonard, 1949) peduncles and in-florescence axes, its solitary style, and its patelli-form fruits. It is similar to Ancistrocladus congolensis; see additional comments under that species. The petals of A. ealaensis are markedly shorter than the sepals. Leonard in his original de-scription gave the sepal length as 2.5-3.5 mm long, but this measurement is significantly shorter than sepals seen by us, and may have been based on buds rather than mature flowers. The petioles or leaf bases seem to be particularly soft in this species, so that dried specimens typically have a rigid cup of stem tissue enclosing the shrunken leaf base tissue. The structures at the branchlet apices are here interpreted as young leaves that dehisce at their bases and fall off during the drying process; these may be structures interpreted as stipules by Leonard. These are triangular, acuminate, longitudinally folded, and do typically enclose a smaller leaf. No stipule scars are evident here, and each of these structures completely encloses a smaller structure of exactly similar shape, which is here interpreted as another leaf. However, Leonard (1949: 30) observed these plants in the field and described the stipules as "tres caduques", which conforms to the behavior of the stipular structures observed on some living plants (pers. obs., CMT, Ancistrocladus robertsoniorum, MO greenhouse). As noted by Leonard (1949), the flowers of this species are frequently attacked by insects that transform them into galls. In fact the majority of collections, unfortunately including the type, bear these galls usually instead of fertile reproductive structures (e.g., Evrard 1765, BR). The galls show continuous variation from a globose, clearly galled structure bearing small leaf-like appendages all over it, to an apparently normal large flower with 5 thick large sepals, 5 thick-textured lanceolate pet-als of similar size to these sepals, about 10 triangular thick filaments also of similar size to these sepals but mostly lacking anthers, and a similar-sized central stylar column. The galls are easily confused with flowers or fruits by those not familiar with this genus.
Conservation
With an EO greater than 20,000 km2 and existing in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gabon: Least Concern; Cheek (2000: 876) also proposed a status of Lower Risk, Least Concern (LR/lc).
Description
Juvenile plants unknown. Juvenile leaves unknown. Adult stems climbing to 12 m tall, the main stems to 4 cm diam., with bark smooth to longitu-dinally shallowly fissured, purple-brown to gray-brown, bearing some scattered leaves and also lateral branchlets to 50 cm long, these each bearing 1 to several hooks and 1 to several groups of leaves; hooks recurved to spiraling, 5-17 mm diam. Adult leaves drying chartaceous to subcoriaceous, on both surfaces dull to a little shiny, in life not seen, drying discolorous, gray-brown to dark brown above, reddish brown below; pits dimorphic, small pits rather densely distributed on both surfaces, large pits 0.3-0.5 mm diam., circular, occasional and scattered on both surfaces; midrib adaxially flat to shallowly sulcate, abaxially prominulous to prominent, terminating in a tiny gland; secondary veins prominulous on both surfaces; tertiary veins reticulated and prominulous on both surfaces; margins plane to thinly revolute; stem leaves with persis-tence unknown, elliptic to oblanceolate, 3.4-29.1 X 1.6-9.8 cm, L/W 2.1-4.6, at apex acuminate with narrow acumen 5-30 mm long or occasionally obtuse to rounded, at base acute to attenuate or sometimes narrowly contracted (i.e., pseudopetiolate); secondary veins 8 to 15 pairs, with intramar-ginal vein situated 3-7 mm from margin; leaves at branchlet apices with persistence unknown, elliptic, narrowly elliptic, elliptic-oblong, or oblanceolate, 5.0-24.9 X 2.2-8.1 cm, L/W 2.5-4.3, at apex acute to acuminate with tips 3-12[-40, Leonard, 1949] mm long or occasionally obtuse to rather rounded, at base cuneate to acute or rarely abruptly narrowly contracted (i.e., pseudopetiolate), with secondary veins 5 to 12 pairs, with intramarginal vein situated 3-7 mm from margin. Inflorescence lax, paniculate, lateral among leaves at apices of branchlets, without hooks, occasionally bearing bracteal leaves similar to adult stem leaves (e.g., Halle 1680, P; Harris & Fay 291, MO); peduncle 2-6[- 7, Leonard, 1949] cm long, slender; branched portion corymbiform, 3-6 X 4- 7[- 16, Leonard, 1949] cm long, dichotomously branched, axes slender; bracts triangular to ovate, 0.2-1.5 mm long, at apex acute, at base obtuse, marginally denticulate to shortly erose, abaxially eglandular or largest bracts with a gland covering ca. 1/2 of surface; pedicels 2-6 mm long. Flowers all pedicellate; sepals 5, oblong to spathulate, rounded at apex, ciliolate at least at apex, straight to a little rounded at base and decurrent on ovary, pale green, 2 or 3 sepals of each flower abaxially with 1 or 2 compressed glands with slender to thickened margins, adaxially apparently without pits, subequal, [2.5-3.5 mm, Leonard, 1949] 4.0-5.0 X 2.0-3.0 mm; petals 5, convolute, suborbicular, golden yellow, 2.0-3.0 X 2.0-3.0 mm; stamens 10 apparently in 1 whorl; filaments stout, pyramidal, dimorphic, the shorter 0.5-0.7 mm long, the longer 0.8-1.0 mm long; anthers ca. 0.5 mm long, pale orange; ovary partially inferior, inferior portion 2.0-3.0 mm long, superior portion ca. 1 mm high; style 1, stout, 1.0-1.5 mm long, red, stigmas 0.5-1.0 mm wide, red. Fruit patelliform; nut 4-5 X 7-8 mm, on sides longitudinally shallowly 5-ridged by decurrent margins of accrescent sepals; persistent sepal limbs spreading, coriaceous drying woody, spathulate to obovate or oblong, subequal to unequal, 5- 10[-13, Leonard, 1949] X 4-8 mm; pericarp dark brown, coriaceous drying woody; seed ca. 6 mm diam.