Raphia rostrata Burret (Burret 1935: 307)

Fig. 17

Description.

Palms 6–8 m high, gregarious. Stipes clustered, with 2 to 4 (– 6) stipes joined at the base, covered with the leaf bases and fibres. Fibres at least 8 mm wide, curling, not forming springs around the stipe. Leaves 11.5–15.4 m long. Petiole 3.6–6.1 m long, reddish when very young, black with white dots to green when adult, channelled from the base to almost the middle then cylindrical or fully split, not spiny; DP 30 comprised between 6.7–7.7 cm. Rachis 7.82–10.11 m long, not split or split in the first half then forming a single and prominent ridge. Leaflets 6–10 in the R 0–30 zone, 159–186 × 4.8–6.6 cm. Infructescence 200 × 50 cm. Fruits oblong to cylindrical, rarely ellipsoid, 6–7.5 × 3–3.8 cm, reddish, with an 8–9 mm long beak.

Ecology.

Swamp forest. The species fruits in September.

Distribution.

Angola (Cabinda), Cameroon, Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Couvreur and Sunderland 2022; Mbandu Luzolawo et al. 2020; Mogue Kamga et al. 2019), Republic of the Congo (this study); in Republic of the Congo: Lékoumou.

IUCN conservation assessment.

Raphia rostrata was assessed by Cosiaux et al. (2018 f) as Data Deficient (DD). The authors requested more field surveys to better understand the taxonomic status, distribution, and threats of the species.

Use.

Production of Raphia wine called Touhomi in Téké (Ingoumina).

Vernacular name.

Touhomi in Téké (Lékoumou).

Notes.

Raphia rostrata resembles Raphia hookeri by the presence of curling stipe fibres. However, in R. rostrata the fibres are pendant and do not form tightly coiled springs whilst in R. hookeri, the fibres form tightly coiled springs which cover the stipe. In addition, the petiole is larger in R. rostrata with DP 30 size of 6.7–7.7 cm. whereas the petiole of R. hookeri has a smaller diameter, with a DP 30 size of 2.9–5.6 cm. Our single observation of R. rostrata was made in a swamp forest away from a stream whereas Couvreur and Sunderland (2022) reported from Cameroon that the species grows along fast flowing rivers.

Specimen examined.

Republic of the Congo. • Lékoumou. Ingoumina, 7 km from Zanaga on the road to Sibiti, c. 700 m W of the road, 02°53.23'S, 013°49.82'E, 540 m, 30 Sep 2019, Ndolo Ebika & Harris 2743 (HICPC, E).