Abstract
Ternstroemia guineensis is described from a sandstone table mountain at Kounounkan, possibly the last in the Fouta Djallon (Guinea Highlands) to remain largely unimpacted by humans and to have mainly intact natural habitats. It occurs about 2400 km westward of the nearest existing record (Nigeria) of the genus in Africa. It is confined to cloud (submontane) forest in galleries along watercourses. Its conservation status is assessed as Endangered using the IUCN 2012 criteria. The species differs from the other two African highland species, T. cameroonensis and T. polypetala, in having hermaphrodite flowers with a long subcylindric style and punctiform stigmas, and petals connate at the base into a tube (not dioecious, with a short style and cone-like stigmas, and free petals) resembling in these features the neotropical Ternstroemia species, as does also the lowland wetland T. africana of Nigeria, Gabon and Angola. Citation: Cheek M., Haba P. M., Konomou G. & Burgt X. M. van der 2019: Ternstroemia guineensis (Ternstroemiaceae), a new endangered cloudforest shrub with neotropical affinities from Kounounkan, Guinea, W Africa. – Willdenowia 49: 351–360. doi: https://doi.org/10.3372/wi.49.49306 Version of record first published online on 26 November 2019 ahead of inclusion in December 2019 issue.
Highlights
In November 2017, the last three authors were on a botanical survey team seeking to discover the most important surviving areas for plant conservation in Guinea following the criteria of Darbyshire & al. (2017) and Darbyshire (2019+)
The characters separating Ternstroemia guineensis from the other African species of the genus are given in Table 1 and a key to the identification of the African species is presented
Distribution — Ternstroemia guineensis is currently only known from the southernmost plateau of the Kounounkan Massif in Forécariah Prefecture, an uninhabited sandstone table mountain, where it is known from gallery forests along four streams
Summary
In November 2017, the last three authors were on a botanical survey team seeking to discover the most important surviving areas for plant conservation in Guinea following the criteria of Darbyshire & al. (2017) and Darbyshire (2019+). Ternstroemia guineensis (Ternstroemiaceae), a new endangered cloudforest shrub with neotropical affinities from Kounounkan, Guinea, W Africa
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