The Identity of Mitratheca richardsonioides (Rubiaceae)

Abstract

During my studies of the herbaceous Rubiaceae-Rubioideae (sensu Verdcourt) in preparation for the first volume of the account of the family for the 'Flora of Tropical East Africa', I sent preliminary manuscripts to Mr. J. B. Gillett for criticism. He very kindly pointed out to me that I had overlooked the genus Mitratheca K. Schum., established for a plant collected on the Kenya coast by D. Riva in March 1894* after he had returned to the coast following the killing of his companion Count Ruspoli by an elephant. Fortunately this specimen is still preserved in the Florence Herbarium and, by the kindness of Dr. C. H. Steinberg, I have been able to borrow the specimen. Dr. C. E. B. Bremekamp also omits all mention of Mitratheca in his well known monograph on African Oldenlandia and its allies, possibly because the original description seems definitely to preclude it from that affinity, although Schumann says it 'stands near to Oldenlandia'. The generic distinction is given as 'flowers hermaphrodite, 4-merous; ovary 2-locular with 3-4 ovules per loculus; placenta globose, subpedicellate; sepals ovate-triangular; corolla rotate; capsule small, septicidal at the apex, at length transversely dehiscent and the lid opening; seeds 3-4, minute, smooth; perennial low branched herb, woody at the base; flowering in its first year; flowers terminal, few, congested in an umbel.