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Stoffelen, P., Robbrecht, E. & Smets, E.: Adapted to the rain forest floor: a remarkable new dwarf Coffea (Rubiaceae) from Lower Guinea (tropical Africa). - Taxon 46: 37-47. 1997. - ISSN 0040-0262.
On the occasion of a taxonomic revision of western and central African herbarium material of Coffea, a new Lower Guinean species was discovered in the unnamed material. It is here described and named C. magnistipula. Several unusual features are discussed. The species is a monocaulous woody dwarf, such as one other Coffea species, the Upper Guinean C. humilis, but is peculiar in having adventitious roots on the stem and very large stipules which with the leaf-bases form debris-collecting cups. These adaptations presumably allow extra uptake of water and nutrients. As usual in Coffea, the calyx is reduced; in C. magnistipula, it is `replaced' by a well developed bracteolar calyculus, resulting in a flower with a `pseudo-superior' ovary. C. magnistipula has a distribution which is micro-disjunct; it occurs in three postulated Ice Age refuge areas of the tropical African rain forest, viz. the Crystal Mountains and the Chaillu Massif in Gabon and the South Cameroon Plateau.
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Effective publication date: 15 February 1997