Impatiens letouzeyi

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Impatiens letouzeyi
Systematics
Nuclear eudicotyledons
Asterids
Order : Heather-like (Ericales)
Family : Balsamin family (Balsaminaceae)
Genre : Spring herbs ( Impatiens )
Type : Impatiens letouzeyi
Scientific name
Impatiens letouzeyi
Gray-Wilson

Impatiens letouzeyi is a species of spring herbs ( Impatiens ) within the balsamic family(Balsaminaceae). It is endemic to western Cameroon . The type epithet honors the French botanist René Letouzey (1918–1989), whocollectedthe holotype in August 1975.

features

Impatiens letouzeyi is an epiphytic , perennial plant with unbranched stems that reach heights of 30 to 50 cm. They become leafless towards the base and take root at the lower nodes. The stems are either smooth or have sparse hairs on the shoot tip. The leaf position is spiral. The thin, sparsely hairy petioles are 1.4 to 6.4 cm long. The leaf blade is 6.7 to 14.5 cm long and 2.8 to 5.5 cm wide. The leaf shape is narrow to broadly elliptical. The base is narrowed. The tip of the shoot is pointed long. The leaf surface is smooth and has isolated elongated hairs below the midrib. There are 5 to 6 pairs of lateral leaf veins. The leaf margin is serrated and has several approximately 2 mm long fringes that run along the base. The lowest fringe is twisted against the leaf blade.

The single flowers are more or less petiolate and are at the tip of the stem. Their color is rosé. The elongated-lanceolate, pointed, entire, smooth bracts are 3 to 4 mm long. The thin, hairless or slightly hairy flower stalks are 2.9 to 3.8 cm long. The two lateral sepals are 11 to 15 mm long, 7.5 to 8 mm wide, ovate with 6 to 7 pointed teeth along the uppermost edge and hairless. The lower sepal is 19 to 31 mm long, 10 to 11 mm high, flat sack-shaped, abruptly narrowed to a 9 to 13 mm long, thin, thread-like straight spur, which is only bent inward and slightly thickened at the tip of the shoot. The laterally connected petals are 34 to 35 mm long and form a lip well above the tip of the lower sepal. Each pair of the upper petals is approximately 18 mm long, 12 mm wide, oblong-elliptical and with entire margins. Each pair of the lower petals is about 25 mm long, 16 mm wide, unequal, rather asymmetrically elongated and with a slight bulge along the inner edge. The ovary is hairless. The fruits are unknown.

Occurrence

For 23 years Impatiens letouzeyi was known only from the type specimen and from the type locality. René Letouzey discovered the species in 1975 in the western Bakossi Mountains between Ekoma and Boubaji 40 km north of Kumba in Cameroon. It was not until 1998 that the botanist George Gosline from the Earthwatch team at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew , was able to prove further occurrences in the region of Kodmin-Elb. Another location is in the Lebialem highlands in the Fosimondi region. Despite intensive searches, the species was never found on the Kupe .

habitat

Impatiens letouzeyi is an epiphyte that usually grows in shady spots in tree tops or in bushes over streams. The species is very rarely found on the ground on raised bogs . It occurs at altitudes between 1,200 and 1,350 m.

literature

  • Christopher Gray-Wilson: New Taxa in African Impatiens (Balsaminaceae) Kew Bulletin, Vol. 33, No. 4, 1979. pp. 641-649 (first scientific description in Latin).
  • Christopher Gray-Wilson: Impatiens of Africa . AA Balkema Publishers, Rotterdam, 1980. ISBN 978-9-0619-1041-1 . Pp. 222-223

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