Monotes hypoleucus (Welw. ex Oliv.) Gilg

17. Monotes hypoleucus (Welw. ex Oliv.) Gilg View in CoL

Monotes hypoleucus (Welw.ex Oliv.) Gilg (1899) View in CoL 134. — Vatica africana var. hypoleuca Welw.ex Oliv.(1868) View in CoL 173. — Type: Welwitsch 1036 (holo LISU; iso B, BM, BR, COI, K), Angola, Huíla, Humpata , Dec. 1859.

Monotes kapiriensis De Wild. (1927) View in CoL 175. — Type: Homblé 1228 (BR, seen in JSTOR), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kapiri Valley, Feb. 1913.

Small tree or shrub. Leaves 7–10 by 4 – 6 cm, elliptical or obovate-elliptical, rounded at the base, rounded to emarginate at the apex, with 11–16 pairs of lateral nerves; upper surface dark in young condition, covered with stellate hairs, glabrescent with age; lower surface with a white-greyish indumentum of curled hairs covering the veins and nerves and disperse straight hairs in the nerves; petiole 1.5–2 cm long, terete. Inflorescences axillary, few-flowered. Flowers with sepals c. 3 mm long, petals c. 9 mm long, both tomentose, anthers with a triangular appendage at the apex. Fruits subglobose, c. 1.5 cm diam; wings lanceolate to broadly elliptical 4–5 by 1.5–2.5 cm.

Ecology — In xerophilous forest or scrub, in sandy soils.

Distribution — BE: Gossweiler 1804 (COI, LISC). – BI: Gossweiler 2934 (COI), 3943 (COI, LISC). – HI: Welwitsch 1036 (COI, LISU). Also in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bancroft (1937) refers to this species as occurring also in Zimbabwe and Tanzania, but that occurrence was not confirmed by Duvigneaud (1961) and Verdcourt (1989).