Gladiolus mariae (Iridaceae), a new species from fire-free shrubland in the Kounounkan Massif, Guinea

Gladiolus mariae Burgt (Iridaceae), a new species from Guinea, West Africa, is described and illustrated. The new species is placed in Gladiolus sect. Decorati Goldblatt and compared with the nine species already known from that section. Flowering plants stand 28–160 cm high with 1–6 bright orange flowers, opening one at a time. The ecology of the new species is discussed in detail, and a description of the vegetation in the region is provided. Gladiolus mariae is at present known only from two uninhabited sandstone table mountains in the Kounounkan Massif, Forécariah Prefecture. About 210 plants were found, on rocky soils at altitudes of 650–1100 m. The majority of plants, about 160, were found in fire-free shrubland, in five patches of 1–4 ha each, dominated by fire-sensitive plant species, but grasses are infrequent. Gladiolus mariae seems vulnerable to grassland fires. The area of occupancy is 28 km2. The species is assessed to the IUCN category Endangered.Citation: Burgt X. M. van der, Konomou G., Haba P. M. & Magassouba S. 2019: Gladiolus mariae (Iridaceae), a new species from fire-free shrubland in the Kounounkan Massif, Guinea. – Willdenowia 49: 117–126. doi: https://doi.org/10.3372/wi.49.49112Version of record first published online on 17 April 2019 ahead of inclusion in April 2019 issue

Trichanthecium tenerium (Poaceae: Panicoideae), a new species from Guinea-Conakry

Trichanthecium tenerium Xanthos, a new species from Guinea-Conakry, is described and illustrated. Trichanthecium tenerium is at present known only from two uninhabited sandstone table mountains in the Kounounkan Massif, Forécariah Prefecture. The species is assessed under the IUCN category Endangered. A key to the annual species of Trichanthecium is provided

Talbotiella cheekii (Leguminosae: Detarioideae), a new tree species from Guinea

Talbotiella cheekii Burgt, a new tree species from Guinea, is described and illustrated. It is a tree to 24 m high, with a stem diameter to 83 cm, and occurs in forest dominated by tree species of the Leguminosae subfamily Detarioideae, on rocky stream banks and rocky hill slopes, at an altitude of 100 – 600 m. It is estimated that 1600 – 2400 mature trees have been seen, in about twelve forest patches; more trees may be present in places not yet visited. One of the localities of the new species is situated at only 46 km northeast of the centre of the capital Conakry and 6 km northeast of the town centre of Coyah, part of the Conakry urban agglomeration. Its distribution is 1400 km further west from the previous westernmost distribution of the genus. The current extent of occurrence is 166 km2. Talbotiella cheekii is here assessed as Endangered (EN) following IUCN Red List categories

Soil fungal communities of ectomycorrhizal dominated woodlands across West Africa

Forests and woodlands in the West African Guineo-Sudanian transition zone contain many tree species that form symbiotic interactions with ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi. These fungi facilitate plant growth by increasing nutrient and water uptake and include many fruiting body-forming fungi, including some edible mushrooms. Despite their importance for ecosystem functioning and anthropogenic use, diversity and distribution of ECM fungi is severely under-documented in West Africa. We conducted a broad regional sampling across five West African countries using soil eDNA to characterize the ECM as well as the total soil fungal community in gallery forests and savanna woodlands dominated by ECM host tree species. We subsequently sequenced the entire ITS region and much of the LSU region to infer a phylogeny for all detected soil fungal species. Utilizing a long read sequencing approach allows for higher taxonomic resolution by using the full ITS region, while the highly conserved LSU gene allows for a more accurate higher-level assignment of species hypotheses, including species without ITS-based taxonomy assignments. We detect no overall difference in species richness between gallery forests and woodlands. However, additional gallery forest plots and more samples per plot would have been needed to firmly conclude this pattern. Based on both abundance and richness, species from the families Russulaceae and Inocybaceae dominate the ECM fungal soil communities across both vegetation types. The community structure of both total soil fungi and ECM fungi was significantly influenced by vegetation types and showed strong correlation within plots. However, we found no significant difference in fungal community structure between samples collected adjacent to different host tree species within each plot. We conclude that within plots, the fungal community is structured more by the overall ECM host plant community than by the species of the individual host tree that each sample was collected from.Peter Meidl and Brendan Furneaux contributed equally as first authors. Kassim Tchan and Kerri Klut-ing contributed equally as second authors.</p

A Taxonomically-verified and Vouchered Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea

Abstract The Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea (CVPRG) is a specimen-based, expert-validated knowledge product, which provides a concise synthesis and overview of current knowledge on 3901 vascular plant species documented from Guinea (Conakry), West Africa, including their accepted names and synonyms, as well as their distribution and status within Guinea (indigenous or introduced, endemic or not). The CVPRG is generated automatically from the Guinea Collections Database and the Guinea Names Backbone Database, both developed and maintained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in collaboration with the staff of the National Herbarium of Guinea. A total of 3505 indigenous vascular plant species are reported of which 3328 are flowering plants (angiosperms); this represents a 26% increase in known indigenous angiosperms since the last floristic overview. Intended as a reference for scientists documenting the diversity and distribution of the Guinea flora, the CVPRG will also inform those seeking to safeguard the rich plant diversity of Guinea and the societal, ecological and economic benefits accruing from these biological resources