Plant Ecology and Evolution 151(3): 434-441, doi: 10.5091/plecevo.2018.1503
Notes on the endemic plant species of the Ebo Forest, Cameroon, and the new, Critically Endangered, Palisota ebo (Commelinaceae)
expand article infoMartin Cheek‡, Gerhard Prenner§, Barthélemy Tchiengué|, Robert B. Faden
‡ Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, United Kingdom§ Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AE, United Kingdom| Herbier National Camerounais, Yaoundé, BP 1601, Cameroon¶ Department of Botany, MRC-166, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, PO Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20013-7012, United States of America

Corresponding author: Martin Cheek ( m.cheek@kew.org )

© Meise Botanic Garden and Royal Botanical Society of Belgium.
all rights reserved
Citation: Cheek M, Prenner G, Tchiengué B, Faden RB (2018) Notes on the endemic plant species of the Ebo Forest, Cameroon, and the new, Critically Endangered, Palisota ebo (Commelinaceae). Plant Ecology and Evolution 151(3): 434-441. https://doi.org/10.5091/plecevo.2018.1503
Open Access
Abstract

Background and aims – This paper reports a further discovery in the context of a long-term botanical survey in the Cross River-Sanaga interval of west-central Africa, focussing on species discovery and conservation.

Methods – Normal practices of herbarium taxonomy have been applied to study the material collected. The relevant collecting data are stored in the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London.

Key results – The growing number of endemic species being discovered from the Ebo forest of Cameroon points to the importance of its conservation. Palisota ebo Cheek (Commelinaceae) is described as an additional new species to science and is compared with P. flagelliflora Faden. Restricted so far to the Ebo Forest its conservation status is assessed as Critically Endangered (CR B1+2ab(iii)) according to the 2012 criteria of IUCN.

Keywords
conservation, geocarpy, conservatory plant, Tropical Important Plant Areas, variegated leaves

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