Cyathula aethiopica Sukhor., 2025

Cyathula aethiopica Sukhor. sp. nov.

Fig. 5 View Figure 5

Holotype.

Ethiopia [Oromia Region], Bale Region [Zone], ca. 20 km north of Dolo Menna [Delo Mena] (Masslo), on road to Goba , 6°30'N, 39°45'E, forest with Aningeria adolfi-friederici , Ocotea kenyensis , and Podocarpus gracilior , alt. 1600 m a. s. l., 28 October 1984, I. Friis, M. G. Gilbert, K. Vollesen 3598 (holotype – K 005772567 !, isotypes – B 100012020 – image seen! C – n. v.) GoogleMaps . Fig. 5 View Figure 5 .

Description.

Perennial herbs up to 50–70 cm tall, rooting at nodes; stems upright or ascending, green or often purple-tinged, 0.6–2.0 mm in diameter, almost roundish or slightly angulate, glabrous or sparsely pubescent with simple inwardly curved or spreading hairs up to 1.0 mm long (except inflorescence axis); leaf pairs 4–6 on each branch; leaves ovate or rhombic-ovate, shortly petiolate (petioles 2.0–10.0 mm), dark green above and pale green below, cuneate, entire, 20.0–90.0 × 10.0–40.0 mm, long-acuminate, distant, uppermost leaves short-acuminate, ± close to the inflorescence; inflorescence with two paracladia forming condensed-thyrsoid synflorescence; main florescence dense or ± interrupted below, 20–60 mm long, its axis with horizontally spreading or crisp simple hairs up to 1.0 (1.5) mm long; bract (subtending each cyme) persistent, 2.2–3.0 mm long, ovate with acuminate tip, pale green, sometimes with hyaline margin; cymes pedicellate (pedicels (0.5) 1.0–2.0 mm long); each cyme symmetric, with two mucronulate or slightly hooked, equal, 2.0–3.0 mm long, indistinctly keeled first-ordered bracteoles (br 1: Fig. 3 C View Figure 3 ), with one fertile flower (fertile part) and two sterile parts in the axils of the br 1 on both sides of the fertile flower; second-ordered bracteoles of the sterile parts (br 2) two, hyaline, glabrous to ± hairy in the lower portion (especially on keeled mid-rib), 4.0–5.0 mm long, both uncinate, with two minor (1.0– 1.5 mm) hooks (third-ordered bracteoles, br 3) in their axils; each sterile flower typically consists of five hooked perianth segments (two or three larger hooks 3.0– 3.5 mm long and the others of shorter length); all larger hooks (br 2) ± equal to perianth of fertile flower; perianth segments of fertile flower 5, 4.5–5.5 mm long, two outer segments larger than three inner segments, glabrous or shortly pubescent in their lower portion, with prominent mid-rib and two indistinct lateral veins, strongly hooked at the top or sometimes only mucronulate (both types can be present on a plant); thus, each cyme has at least 12 unequal uncinae; pseudostaminodes white, 0.5–0.7 (1.0) mm long; anthers 0.4–0.5 mm long; style (with capitate stigma) 1.0– 1.1 mm long; fruit (without style) 2.3–2.8 mm long; seed coat brown, thin; embryo curved; radicle pointing upwards.

Note.

The species is variable in having mucronate or uncinate bracteoles 1 (br 1) and perianth segments on one individual (heteroanthocarpous plant).

Remark.

The ITS tree (fig. 3 in Di Vincenzo et al. (2025)) does not reveal paraphyly in C. achyranthoides , yet the two accessions identified under this name represent distinct species: AC 1387, now recognised as C. aethiopica Sukhor. and AC 1388, a genuine C. achyranthoides specimen from Venezuela.

Distribution

(Fig. 6 View Figure 6 ). DR Congo: [South Kivu Prov.] Idjwi Island, ~ 1800 m a. s. l., May 1929, H. Humbert 8408 ( BR 0000013780456, P 05028684). Note. Perianth mucronulate, but not uncinate.

Ethiopia: [South West Ethiopia Peoples’ Region, Keffa Zone] Bonga, about 5 km south of Roman Catholic Mission, dense montane forest, alt. ca. 1800 m a. s. l., 21 Dec 1965, W. J. J. O. de Wilde & B. E. E. de Wilde-Duyfies 9361 ( BR 0000013779146, WAG 0186036); [Oromia Region, Jimma Zone] ca. 57 km from Jimma on the Sheki-Gogeb River track, 7°15'N, 36°55'E, alt. 1750 m a. s. l., Olea – Polyscias forest, 8 Dec 1972, I. Friis & al. 1686 ( BR 0000013779139); Bale Region, Bale Mountains NP, 8 km below Rira vill., 2300 m a. s. l., 19 Oct 1988, I. Friis & al. 5593 ( BR 0000013779122). Note. Almost all specimens of C. achyranthoides cited in Townsend (2000) belong to C. aethiopica .

Tanzania: [Kagera Region] Bukoba distr., Kaloma, 1935, H. Gillman 347 ( K 005772946); [Iringa Region, Kilolo Distr.] Udzungwa Mountain NP, 1500 m a. s. l., 3 Oct 2001, P. A. Luke & al. 8120 ( K 005772943); [Iringa Region, Kilolo Distr.] Udzungwa Mountain NP, 1150 m a. s. l., 8 Jun 2002, P. A. Luke 8774 ( BR 0000016151345, K 005772944). Note. A specimen from Tanzania collected in 1935 is the only one cited as C. achyranthoides by Townsend (1985).

Habitat.

Dense mountain forests at elevation of 1000–2400 m a. s. l.

IUCN category.

The new species is known from Ethiopia, Tanzania and easternmost DR Congo. Some specimens were collected in National Parks or Protected Areas where human activities are regulated. Due to a lack of information about the abundance of C. aethiopica in east tropical Africa, we provisionally categorise C. aethiopica as a Data Deficient ( DD) species.

Relationships.

Morphologically, C. aethiopica is similar to C. brevispicata Sukhor. sp. nova and to C. fernando-poensis Suess. & Friedrich due to relatively short florescences and ± glabrous, hooked and large perianths of the fertile flowers. However, C. aethiopica has shorter styles compared to C. brevispicata (~ 1.0 mm vs. 1.2–1.6 mm). From C. fernando-poensis , the new species differs by having more hairy and usually hooked segments of fertile flowers. See also Table 1 View Table 1 for comparison.

General distribution.

East Tropical Africa ( Ethiopia and Tanzania, probably present in Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda based on Fig. 6 View Figure 6 ), restricted to the mountains of the East African Rift System.