Contribution to the taxonomy of Garcinia (Clusiaceae) in Africa, including two new species from Gabon and a key to the Lower Guinean species

Abstract

Garcinia has some 260 species and is often regarded as a genus with a difficult taxonomy. No recent treatment is available for the botanically rich Lower Guinea phytogeographical region. This study aims at partly filling this gap. First, several taxonomic problems are solved. Garcinia chromocarpa is reduced to a variety of Garcinia quadrifaria. Garcinia gnetoides and Garcinia granulata are both synonyms of Garcinia quadrifaria. Garcinia zenkeri is a synonym of Garcinia densivenia and lectotypes are being designated for both names. Garcinia brevipedicellata is a synonym of Garcinia afzelii, as is Garcinia antidysenterica for which a lectotype is designated. Second, two new species endemic to Gabon are described: Garcinia gabonensis Sosef & Dauby and Garcinia obliqua Sosef & Dauby. Finally, an identification key to all species present in the Lower Guinea region is provided. A few remaining West African species names could not be placed with certainty, because the type material was lost or not traced yet. One is a Rutaceae while the remaining three are provisionally to be regarded as synonyms of Garcinia smeathmannii.

The origin of cultivated mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L. var. mangostana): Critical assessments and an evolutionary‐ecological perspective

“…The taxonomy of Garcinia is difficult (Sosef & Dauby, 2012), fraught with synonymies, and frequent misidentification of specimens. In this large genus, in which many species resemble one another in vegetative characters, identification to the species level is difficult when no reproductive organs are available.…”

Taxonomic revision of Garcinia (Clusiaceae) in India

“…Also, many times, the earlier workers described species based on incomplete specimens and even without designating a type. Consequently, modern taxonomic revisions and studies have been undertaken in majority of the centres of diversity of the genus such as Malaysia (Nazre, 2006), Madagasscar (Sweeney & Rogers, 2008), Africa, (Sosef & Dauby, 2012), and Australia (Cooper, 2013). These studies, however, lacked an Indian perspective.…”

Effectiveness of primate seed dispersers for an “oversized” fruit, Garcinia benthamii

“…An understanding of their dispersal effectiveness is important for determining if they can provide a backup dispersal service (Sekar and Sukumar 2013); alternatively, if primates have high effectiveness, the conclusion that some of these large-fruited species are primarily reliant on megafauna for dispersal may be incorrect. Garcinia (Clusiaceae) is a pantropical plant genus containing around 260 species (Sosef and Dauby 2012). Fruit sizes within the genus vary, but several species display fruit morphologies consistent with those described for a megafaunal fruit (Guimarães et al 2008).…”