Endemic Families of Madagascar. XIV. a New Restricted Range Species of Pentachlaena H. Perrier (Sarcolaenaceae) from Central Madagascar

Abstract

Pentachlaena vestita Andriam., Lowry & G.E. Schatz (Sarcolaenaceae) is described as a new species from open, frequently burned vegetation on quartzite substrate on Mt. Ambatolahinanahary in central Madagascar. It can be distinguished from Pentachlaena latifolia H. Perrier, which it most closely resembles, by several foliar characters including leaf size and venation, and especially by the presence of a dense stellate-strigose indument on the inflorescences, flowers, and fruits, and which almost totally obscures the abaxial leaf surface. A description of the new species is accompanied by a line drawing and photos taken in the field, along with a preliminary assessment of its risk of extinction following the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, which indicates a status of "Endangered".

Molecular phylogenetics of Sarcolaenaceae (Malvales), Madagascar's largest endemic plant family

“…Sarcolaenaceae Caruel, the largest of Madagascar's endemic plant families, have been the focus of several morphological studies, in particular regarding the peculiar pollen tetrads produced by all genera (Straka, , , ; Carlquist, ; Straka & Friedrich, ; Nilsson & Randrianasolo, ). A recent series of taxonomic revisions has clarified species circumscriptions and described new taxa in each of the ten genera now recognised (Lowry et al ., , , ; Schatz, Lowry & Wolf, , ; Lowry, Schatz & Wolf, ; Lowry & Rabehevitra, ; Hong‐Wa, ; Rabehevitra & Lowry, ; Ramananjanahary et al ., ; Andriamihajarivo, Lowry & Schatz, ). While this emblematic family has attracted the attention of botanists for more than two centuries (Du Petit‐Thouars, ; Baillon, ,b, , ; Gerard, ; Cavaco, ,b; Dehay, ; Straka, , ; Carlquist, ; Capuron, ; Coetzee & Muller, ; Goldblatt & Dorr, ; Nilsson & Randrianasolo, ; Ducousso et al ., ; Ramananjanahary et al ., ), no comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study has been conducted to date and little if any research has been done on what may be the family's most distinctive morphological feature, i.e.…”