LIBERIA – Grand Bassa • Not far from Bassa Point; 6°06.35’N, 10°21.24’W; 3 Nov. 2025; fl.; Jongkind 15340; holotype: WAG; isotype: K.

Differs from Emelianthe panganensis (Engl.) Danser by its flower colour (purple, greenish, and white vs mainly pinkish and red), its smaller anthers (ca 8 vs 13–18 mm), and style and filaments not bending during flowering.

Glabrous hemiparasitic shrub. Leaves opposite, coriaceous, blade 6.5–9.0 × 2.2–5.5 cm, lanceolate to elliptic or ovate, rounded to cuneate at base, decurrent on petiole, acute to rounded at top, slightly shiny above, dull below, one pair of long ascending secondary veins, starting clearly above the leaf base, sometimes with a weaker pair closer to the leaf base, most easily visible from above; petiole 5–11 mm long. Inflorescence an 1–3 flowered umbel; peduncle 1–4 mm long; bract 1.5 mm long, ovate, on a saucer shaped base. Flowers glabrous inside and outside, mature bud 5.5–6.0 cm long, clearly inflated around the base of the corolla lobes about halfway up, pedicel ca 1 mm long. Calyx ca 1 mm long, smooth, cylindrical, calyculus entire. Corolla 4-lobed, radially symmetrical, tube about as long as lobes, ca 2.2 mm in diameter for most of its length, widening slightly near the apex, pale to dark purplish; lobes valvate, recurving, ca 2.5 mm wide at base, 1.2 mm higher up, upper ca 10 mm less flexible than below, apex acute, lower part of lobes outside with a slightly raised midrib that extends on to the upper part of the corolla tube, pale green, changing to purplish at the level of the anthers. Stamens inserted a few mm above the base of the corolla lobes, erect; filaments slightly flattened, purplish red at base, upper part white; anthers basifixed, 4-thecous, not chambered, ca 8 mm long, weakly attached to the style, purplish. Style filiform, reddish; stigma capitate, ca 1 mm in diam., several times as wide as the style, green. Fruits globose, 5–7 mm (dry), red, tubular calyculus on top 1 mm long.

Only known from Liberia, east of the capital Monrovia, in disturbed forest (Fig. 4). The host of Jongkind 14293 is a Haplormosia monophylla (Harms) Harms tree growing on the bank of a lagoon.

The specific epithet, purpurea, refers to the colour of the flowers.

Emelianthe purpurea is known from two collections and one observation at three locations, from 1970, 2020, and 2025. One collection and the observation were made in areas that are not protected, the most recent collection was from the locally protected forest around the Kokon Ecolodge. Especially the forest near the south-western location (Jongkind 14293) is rapidly disappearing in recent years due to the expansion of Monrovia. This resulted in a decline in both the area and quality of habitat, and most likely in number of mature individuals, a trend that continues today. In parts of the EOO, only a few trees remain from what was once closed forest. However, because mistletoes often grow out of sight high in the canopy, this species may still be more abundant than suggested by the two collected specimens and the single observation. The EOO is 256 km² and the AOO is 12 km². Emelianthe purpurea is here preliminarily assessed as Endangered: EN B1ab(iii,v)+2ab(iii,v).

Liberia – Margibi • Kpan Town Lagoon; 6°10.76’N, 10°28.93’W; 8 Mar. 2020; fr.; Jongkind 14293; BR [BR0000025621389V], G, K [K001938015], P, WAG [WAG.1973461].

Emelianthe purpurea and E. panganensis belong to the minority of African Loranthaceae species whose stamens do not rapidly coil after the corolla opens (Kirkup 1998). In both the watercolour of E. purpurea and the numerous fresh flowers observed on the forest floor, the stamens remain more or less pressed against the style (Fig. 2C). The stamens of E. panganensis usually bend outward while the anthers are still connected to the upper part of the style (Polhill and Wiens 1998: 97). It is possible that the appropriate pollinator(s) had not yet visited the two flowering E. purpurea plants I observed; a visiting pollinator could probably push the base of the corolla lobes, including the attached stamens, away from the style.

During a visit in late March 2026 to the host tree from which Jongkind 14293 had previously been collected, several plants of E. purpurea were observed on this tree (Fig. 3). Some of the mistletoes on this host tree are at least six years old (2020–2026). Regrettably, no dead branches bearing older mistletoes were present, which would have facilitated the study of the haustoria.