Abstract
Summary. A new species of Brachystelma Sims from the Jos Plateau in Nigeria, B. bracteolatum Meve, is described and illustrated. The new species resembles the W African B. constrictum and the E African B. lineare in its grass-like leaves, but is quite different in its corona structure. According to Meve & Porembski (1993), Brachystelma Sims (Asclepiadaceae-Stapelieae) is represented in West Tropical Africa by eight out of about a hundred species known for the genus. Except for B. mortonii C. C. Walker, which is restricted to Ghana and the Ivory Coast, all have been found in Nigeria, although none is endemic there. Recently, material of an undescribed taxon has been collected in Nigeria and is described here. Brachystelma bracteolatum Meve sp. nov. B. constricto J. B. Hall habitu affinis, sed corolla coronaque glabris, lobis coronae staminalibus rectis 2 mm longis, lobis coronae interstaminalibus deltoidibus, parvis differt. Typus: Nigeria, Jos Plateau, Specks 549 (holotypus K; isotypus MSUN). Dwarf, perennial geophyte. Rootstock a hypocotyl tuber, 15 - 25 x 50 - 120 mm, discoid, surface smooth, grey-brown. Stems repeatedly di- or trichotomously branched from the base, prostrate to erect to 10 - 20 cm, rather soft and flexible, 1 - 1.5 mm diam., bright green or reddish, sparsely covered with recurved, translucent white trichomes c. 50 pm long. Leaves linear, acute, subsessile, 30 - 60 x 1 mm, spreading, soft, slightly fleshy, adaxially slightly grooved along the midrib, green, glabrous except for a few recurved trichomes on the abaxial side of the rachis; stipular glands present, attached to the stems. Inflorescences bostrychoid, geminiflorous, extra-axillary, sessile, initially terminal, though quickly pushed aside by the proliferating main stem, 4 partial inflorescences arranged around the swollen, c. 3 mm wide nodes, forming 8-flowered synflorescences, flowering ? synchronously. Floral bracts c. 2.5 mm long, translucent white with reddish tinge, one per partial inflorescence, persistent, occasionally with one stipular gland developed, bracteoles 1 - 1.5 mm long, 1 or 2 per flower, persistent, estipulate. Pedicels 4 - 6 x 1 mm, covered with recurved trichomes 50 pm long. Calyx free,
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