28. Ocotea sambiranensis van der Werff

(Fig. 4)

Novon 6: 470 (1996).

— Typus: Madagascar, Antsiranana, Massif du Manongarivo, van der Werff & McPherson 13502 (holo-, MO!; iso-, GH, K, L, LE, P, PRE, TAN).

SELECTED SPECIMENS SEEN. — Antsiranana. Massif de Manongarivo, van der Werff & McPherson 13472, 13490, 13501, 13502 & 13523 (MO, P, TAN); Antsiranana, Piste d’Antsatrotro, Réserve spéciale de Manongarivo, Andriatsiferana et al. 1703 (MO, P [P06837098]).

DISTRIBUTION. — Reported from the Manongarivo Massif from 1000 to 1600 m and from the forêt de Kalabenono near Ambilobe between 700 and 800 m.

PHENOLOGY. — Flowers from October to December, fruits in August and October.

DESCRIPTION

Shrub or small tree to 6 m. Twigs terete or angular, glabrous; terminal buds glabrous. Leaves 8-16 × 3-7 cm, alternate, narrowly elliptic or slightly ovate, glabrous, firmly chartaceous, base acute or rarely obtuse, apex sharply acute or acuminate, lateral veins weakly developed, 7-11 on each side, secondary and tertiary venation raised on both surfaces; lower surface densely and minutely gland-dotted; domatia absent. Petioles glabrous, canaliculate, 7-13 mm long. Inflorescences in axils of deciduous bracts near the tips of the branches or along leafless short shoots, 3-7 cm long. Pedicels 3-6 mm long. Flowers white, fragrant, tepals spreading at anthesis, 6-7 mm diam.Tepals 6, glabrous outside or with a fringe of hairs, minutely puberulous inside, stamens 9, all 4-celled, c. 2 mm long, the filaments a little shorter than the anthers, glabrous; inner stamens with 2 glands at the base, staminodia very small, pubescent; pistil glabrous, 3 mm long, receptacle deep, glabrous inside. Fruit ellipsoid, 2,5-3 × 1,5 cm, cupule deeply cup-shaped, 2 cm wide, with 6 lobes or teeth.

REMARKS

Ocotea sambiranensis can be easily recognized by the combination of glabrous vegetative parts, the raised reticulation on both surfaces of the leaves, the acute to acuminate leaves and the numerous, small gland dots on the lower leaf surface. This species is only known from the mountains in the NW of Madagascar. A recent collection from the chaine de Galoko near Ambilobe differs from the specimens from Sambirano in the much finer reticulation on the leaves and a more pronounced line of hairs at the margin of the tepals; in other characters (glabrous leaves, twigs and terminal buds, leaf shape, presence of gland dots) it agrees with typical O. sambiranensis.