Novitates Gabonenses 91: additions to the grass flora of Gabon

Abstract

Background – The number of vascular plant species known to occur in Gabon rises quickly due to renewed collecting and inventory activities, often in little-known or previously uncollected areas.Methods – Herbarium material from BR, BRLU and WAG was studied.Results – Two genera (Alloteropsis, Entolasia), eleven species and one variety of grasses are recorded from Gabon for the first time (Alloteropsis paniculata, Cenchrus echinatus, Elionurus platypus, Entolasia olivacea, Eragrostis patens, Hyparrhenia diplandra var. mutica, Leersia triandra, Loudetia annua, Oryza longistaminata, Rottboellia purpurascens, Sacciolepis africana and Setaria geminata), while information on two erroneous species reports is provided. This brings the total number of grass species known to occur in Gabon to 190. Finally, new records of four rare species (Elionurus hensii, Guaduella macrostachys, Paratheria prostrata and Puelia schumanniana) are discussed.

The genus Hydrocharis L. (Hydrocharitaceae): distribution features and conservation status

“…Hydrocharis morsus-ranae and H. dubia are used as orna mental, fodder, fishery and water protection plant; H. morsus-ranae and H. chevalieri also as medicinal plant (Den Hartog 1957, Dubina et al 1993, Sosef 2017. Hydrocharis chevalieri is used for the production of salt from ash (Sosef 2017), in Gabon leaves are used for preparing tea (Mesterházy ined.). In the 20th century water transport and ornamental gardening also became a significant factor of invasion.…”

“…The area of distribution is widely separated from that of the other species of Hydrocharis. Hydrocharis chevalieri is known from Cameroons (mainly southwestern regions) (BR, K, WAG, YA, Z+ZT), Gabon (Ngounié, l'Ogooué-Ivindo, l'Ogooué-Lolo, Woleu-Ntem) (WAG), Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic (BR), Democratic Republic of the Congo (sporadically occurs in western and central regions but is rare in the east), Republic of the Congo (Z+ZT), there are also a few occurrences in Benin (West Africa) and in the north of Cameroons (Cook & Lüönd 1982, Symoens 1984, Akoegninou et al 2006, Symoens 2015, Sosef 2017, Appendix A: Conservatoire 2019, GBIF 2019). The species is not found in Eastern Africa − Rwanda and Burundi (Symoens 2015).…”