Abrahamia darainensis Randrian. & Lowry 2017, spec. nova

Typus: MADAGASCAR. Prov. Antsiranana: Rég. SAVA, Daraina, forêt d’Antsahabe, 13°12’53’’S 49°31’53’’E, 460 m, 25.I.2006, fr., Ranirison & Nusbaumer 1118 (holo-: G [G00090546]!; iso-: MO- 6671432!, P [P00580353]!, TEF [TEF000882]!).

Diagnosis

Abrahamia darainensis Randrian. & Lowry can be distinguished from other members of the genus by its small, chartaceous, glabrous, elliptic to obovate leaves with a short petiole (5-7 mm long), and its glabrous, ellipsoid fruits that measure 2.6 3 1.5 cm.

Description

Trees 6 m tall, 9 cm DBH. Leaves alternate; blade elliptic to obovate, 4-7.5 3 1.2-2.2 cm, chartaceous, apex shortly acuminate, margin undulate, base cuneate, both surfaces glabrous, venation craspedodromous, midvein visible but not prominent on both surfaces, secondary veins 14-18 pairs, 3-5 mm apart, almost impressed adaxially, slightly raised baxially, tertiary veins few and only weakly visible adaxially; petiole 5-7 mm long, c. 0.5-1 mm in diam., canaliculate on adaxial surface, glabrous. Inflorescence and flowers unknown. Fruits 2.6 3 1.5 cm, ellipsoid, light red, glabrous, with longitudinal striations.

Distribution, ecology and phenology

Abrahamia darainensis is known only from humid forest on the eastern slope of Antsahabe in the Daraina region (Map 2). It was collected in fruit in January.

Conservation status

While Abrahamia darainensis is only known from a single locality, it is situated within a large block of forest in the Loky Manambato protected area (Daraina), and in the absence of data on population size, no future decline is expected in terms of AOO, EOO, or quality of habitat, so we therefore assign a preliminary conservation status of “Least Concern’’ [LC] using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (IUCN, 2012).

Notes

Abrahamia darainensis is similar to A. lenticellata in having chartaceous leaves with a short acuminate apex and undulate margins, and fruits of similar size (2.6 3 1.5 cm in A. darainensis and 2-2.6 3 1.3-1.5 cm in A. lenticellata). It differs, however, by having secondary veins that are fewer in number (14-18 vs 20-25) and are craspedodromous (vs semicraspedodromous), a shorter petiole (5-7 mm vs 7-13 mm), and glabrous (vs velutinous) fruits. Abrahamia darainensis is only known from the type gathering.