The Genus Uvariodendron (Engl. & Diels) R. E. Fries (Annonaceae) in East Africa

Abstract

Uvariodendron was erected as a section of Uvaria L. by Engler & Diels in 1901 I (Monogr. Afr. Annonac.: 8) for four arborescent species. R. E. Fries later in 1930 (Acta Horti Berg. Io: 51) raised the section to generic rank and recognized eleven species. The West African species have been revised recently by R. W. J. Keay (Fl. W. Trop. Afr., ed. 2, I: 45-6). Up to 1955 only two species had been described from East Africa and these are still imperfectly known. During 1950 I had the good fortune to live within half a mile of the Karura Forest in Nairobi where an undescribed species of the genus was locally quite common; this species had in fact been collected as long ago as 1913 by J. L. Moon (in Battiscombe 811) and was finally given a name in 1955. Apart from this, a number of other interesting species have been collected, particularly in the Kenya coastal forests, and although Messrs. R. B. Drummond & J. H. Hemsley, Mrs. H. Faulkner and I have attempted to obtain adequate spirit material, a great deal more needs to be done. Curiously enough it is from the Eastern Usambara Mts. in the neighbourhood of Amani and Derema that material is lacking; since this area has been well botanized for forty years one can only assume that the trees are rare. With their usually startlingly large leaves they can hardly be called inconspicuous. Despite lack of comparative data the following key will separate the species so far recognizable.