Monodora crispata
Tree to 20 m high, sometimes leaning and giving a lianescent appearance; d.b.h. to 30 cm; outer bark dark brown with vertical lenticels; young branches drying black, glabrous; old branches brown-blackish, glabrous. Petioles 3-7 mm long, 1-1.5 mm in diameter, leaf lamina inserted on side, narrowly grooved adaxially. Leaf lamina 5-10(-17) cm long, 2.5-5(-6) cm wide, length:width ratio1.8-3.2, narrowly obovate to obovate or narrowly elliptic to elliptic, base rounded to acute, apex acuminate, acumen 3-10 mm long, membranous when young to coriaceous, glabrous, dark green; midrib adaxially raised becoming sunken towards the base, glabrous, prominent and glabrous abaxially; secondary veins 9-13 pairs. Flowers single, leaf opposed, sometimes extra axillary, pendulous. Flowering pedicels 20-50 mm long, 0.9-0.7 mm in diameter, glabrous, dark green. Upper bract inserted centrally or subapically on the pedicel, 6-15 mm long, 5-9 mm wide, length:width ratio 2-3, ovate to narrowly ovate, base decurrent, apex acute, glabrous on both surfaces, green, margins undulate, sparsely covered with curly hairs to glabrous. Sepals (5-)9-18 mm long, 3-6 mm wide, length:width ratio 2-3.6, narrowly ovate to ovate, base truncate, apex acute, glabrous on both surfaces, green, reflexed upwards, falling in fruit, margins undulate to crisped, glabrous. Outer petals 35-70 mm long, (6-)10-20 mm wide, length:width ratio 2-6.5, narrowly oblong to oblong, base truncated, apex attenuate, arc-shaped in the lower part, both surfaces glabrous, white or yellow at base then yellow with red-brown tiger markings, strongly crisped, margins strongly crisped, glabrous. Inner petals 4-17 mm long, 6-20 mm wide, length:width: ratio 0.5-1.5, clawed triangular to cordate, base cordate, apex acute, connivent by the margins, sparsely to densely covered with 2-3 mm long straight hairs inside, glabrous outside, white to yellow with red streaks towards margins, margins crisped, densely covered with short curly hairs; claw 3-8 mm long, 1-3 mm wide, claw:inner petal ratio, 0.4-1.1, glabrous, bright yellow. Receptacle 3-4 mm in diameter, flat to slightly convex. Stamens in 9-11 rows, 0.5-1 mm long, connective shield ca. 0.2 mm long, densely covered with short erect hairs, white, those of innermost whorl not elongated over ovary wall. Ovary ca. 2 mm long, ca. 1.5 mm wide stigma ca. 1.5-2 mm in diameter, weakly capitate, sparsely covered with short erect hairs. Fruiting pedicels 3-5 cm long, 4-10 mm in diameter, woody, glabrous. Fruits 6-15 cm long, 3.5-5 cm in diameter, length:width ratio 1.5-2.5, conic, apex acute, conspicuously 6 to 7-ribbed, sometimes ribs separated halfway up the fruit, small secondary ribs present but disappearing upwards, smooth, glabrous, green-grey; pericarp 3-5 mm thick. Seeds 10-13 mm long, 5-9 mm wide, broadly ellipsoid, packed in white pulp; testa smooth, light brown; raphe not thickened, brown; hilum 4-5 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, elliptical.
Monodora crispata is distinguishable by its undulate upper bract, crisped inner and outer petals and conspicuously 6- to 7-ribbed fruit. It closely resembles M. angolensis by the shape of the petals, but is distinguished by crisped outer petals and the presence of 2-3 mm long hairs on the inside of the inner petals versus undulate outer petal margins and a glabrous inside surface of the inner petals.
NT. Monodora crispata is known from a reasonable number of collections. It has a fairly large distribution in West and Central Africa, occurring in certain protected areas such as national parks (Sapo in Liberia; Banco and Moria in Ivory Coast) and forest reserves (Haut-Sassandra in Ivory Coast; Bobiri in Ghana). However, the area of occupancy is fairly small (370 km2) and only a few collections were made in the past two decades (5), thus the “near threatened” category is applied.
The molecular phylogeny places M. crispata with low support as sister to M. tenuifolia.
Sierra Leone to Gabon; in primary and secondary rain forests, along streams, on sandy soil; at 0-400 m altitude.