Monotes hirtii Duvigneaud 1958
Creators: name: Meerts, Pierre
name: Rougelot, Quentin
name: Sosef, Marc
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Malvales
Dipterocarpaceae
Monotes
Monotes hirtii

description: 8. Monotes hirtii Duvigneaud (1958: 233)   
 Lectotype (designated here): —D.R. CONGO. Upper Katanga. Nzilo, verger à Monotes, 14 June 1957, Duvigneaud & Hirt 3514 Ml (lecto-: BRLU! [barcode BRLU0000090022029]; isolecto-: BRLU! (6 sheets)).   
Tree (height unknown); twigs densely hirsute, with simple spreading hairs ca. 1 mm long, glabrescent, purplish brown, with conspicuous pale lenticels. Leaves generally grouped at the end of branches; petiole 3–5(–10) mm long, ca. 1.5 mm in diameter, hirsute; blade ovate to ovate lanceolate, 3.4–9(–10.5) × 1.2–4 cm, l/w ratio 2–3, obtuse to rounded to slightly cordate at base, acute to shortly acuminate at apex, with acumen rounded to apiculate, concolorous, dark green to brownish green in herbarium; 10–13(–17) pairs of nerves, impressed on upper surface, prominent on lower surface; upper surface with orange reticulum, harsh to the touch, with simple straight hairs 1–2 mm long; lower surface with prominent reticulum, with similar hairs on the reticulum, areoles glabrous (rarely with a few stellate hairs), with sparse yellow glands; basal gland brown, with a fringe of long straight hairs; midnerve and lateral nerves deeply impressed above and prominent beneath, giving a quilted appearance. Inflorescence a short congested panicle at the end of branches, comprising 3–5 clusters 5–10 mm long, the lowermost ones shortly pedunculate, sometimes with a few axillary cymes. Flower: pedicel 1–3 mm long, slightly accrescent, pubescent; buds rounded, with silky hairs; sepals ovate-triangular, 2–3 mm long; petals oblong, ca. 10 mm long; anther with a short obtuse apical appendix. Fruit ca. 8 × 6 mm, markedly attenuate at tip, with persistent style, often sulcate, hirsute; wings 1.0–2.5 × 0.8–1.2 cm, ovate-elliptic, reddish, with sparse straight hairs and very short fasciculate hairs.  
 Illustrations: — Figs 3K, 4J, 8C, 15.   
 Distribution in D.R. Congo: —Upper Katanga. A rare species, with most specimens collected by Duvigneaud between 1956 and 1960 from a restricted area in the region of Nzilo (“district of the NW foothills of Manika”) (Fig. 16E). Endemic of D.R. Congo (Katanga).   
 Habitat and ecology: —Miombo open forests and wooded savannahs, mostly on rocky slopes and shallow stony soil, with Brachystegia stipulata and B. microphylla; sometimes forests on deep sandy soil with B. longifolia.   
 Other representative specimens examined:—D.R. CONGO. Upper Katanga: Keyberg, forêt claire à Marquesia sur pisolithes latéritiques, 12 July 1956, Duvigneaud & Timperman 2003 (BRLU!); Territ. Kolwezi, Nzilo, forêt à Brachystegia longifolia sur terre sableuse, 14 June 1957, Duvigneaud 3513M (BRLU!); Entre Nzilo et Delcommune, forêt verger à Brachystegia stipulata et Monotes hirtii sur un replat dans un paysage de collines rocheuses à Brachystegia microphylla, 14 December 1959, Duvigneaud 4554 (BRLU!); Nzilo, forêt enrochée sur crête gréseuse à Brachystegia microphylla, 27 January 1960, Duvigneaud 5259M (BRLU!); Nzilo, forêt-verger enrochée de pente quartzitique, 27 January 1960, Duvigneaud 5261M1 (BRLU!); Nzilo, forêt-verger à Monotes div. sp., enrochée, sur phyllades kibariennes, 27 January 1960, Duvigneaud 5268 (BRLU!); Vallée de la Luilu, 24 km NNW Kolwezi, forêt claire, 16 February 1982, Empain, Malaisse & Robbrecht 2227 (BR!).   
 Discussion:— A very distinct species on account of the small acuminate leaves with long straight hairs on both surfaces.   
 References:— Lebrun & Stork (1991: 144); Meerts (2016: 223).
description: Published as part of Meerts, Pierre, Rougelot, Quentin & Sosef, Marc, 2017, Revision of the genus Monotes (Dipterocarpaceae) in D. R. Congo, with implications for Angola and its distinction from Marquesia, pp. 151-205 in Phytotaxa 308 (2) on pages 180-181, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.308.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/13701270