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Notes on the genus Dicliptera (Acanthaceae) in Eastern Africa

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Summary

Five new species are described within the genus Dicliptera Juss. (Acanthaceae) from eastern Africa: D. inconspicua I. Darbysh., D. cordibracteata I. Darbysh., D. latibracteata I. Darbysh., D. cicatricosa I. Darbysh. and D. vollesenii I. Darbysh. The Dicliptera maculata Nees and D. carvalhoi Lindau complexes are reassessed with emphasis upon eastern Africa, resulting in two new statuses and two new subspecies being formalised: D. maculata Nees subsp. usambarica (Lindau) I. Darbysh., D. carvalhoi Lindau subsp. nemorum (Milne-Redh.) I. Darbysh. and D. carvalhoi subsp. laxiflora I. Darbysh. and D. carvalhoi subsp. erinacea I. Darbysh. D. nilotica C. B. Clarke and D. colorata C. B. Clarke are lectotypified and the past confusion over these names is discussed. The description of D. grandiflora Gilli is amplified and its affinities discussed. An assessment of the conservation status of each taxon is made.

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Kaj Vollesen, Gemma Bramley and Tim Harris for their helpful taxonomic advice and discussion of the manuscript. To Roy Vickery (BM), Dominique Champluvier (BR), Olof Ryding (C), Celia Cabral (COI), Frank Mbago (DSM), Geoffrey Mwachala and Siro Masinde (EA), Jim Solomon (MO) and Alain Changy (P) for providing access to herbarium collections at their respective institutions. Thanks to Hannah Banks (K) for providing the SEM seed images presented in this paper. Hazel Wilks and Juliet Williamson are thanked for producing the excellent illustrations. I am additionally grateful to Maria Vorontsova and Melanie Wilmot-Dear (K) for the Latin diagnoses and to two anonymous reviewers for comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript.

Fieldwork in Tanzania, during which Dicliptera vollesenii was collected, was supported by the Bentham-Moxon Trust and by Research Permits granted by the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology.

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  1. Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AB, UK

    Iain Darbyshire

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  1. Iain Darbyshire
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Correspondence to Iain Darbyshire.

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Darbyshire, I. Notes on the genus Dicliptera (Acanthaceae) in Eastern Africa. Kew Bull 63, 361–383 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-008-9053-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-008-9053-7

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