Annickia chlorantha
Tree up to 9(-25) m tall; bark grayish; young shoots pubescent, glabrescent, pale green, older ones black; internodes 0.3-4.3 cm long. Indumentum of single, bifid and fasciculate hairs, 0.1-0.8 mm long. Leaves: petiole 2-9 mm long, pubescent; leaf-blade narrowly elliptic to obovate, 7-28 cm long, 2-9.5 cm wide, papery to coriaceous, base narrowly cuneate to rounded, apex acuminate; lateral nerves 8-12 pairs; upper surface glossy dark green when fresh, in sicco brown to grey-green, midrib pilose from base to apex or less often only in the basal part, rarely glabrous, hairs 0.2-0.6 mm long; lower surface whitish to pale green when fresh, in sicco bright brown to green, puberulous, with simple, bifid or trifid hairs pointing in all directions, hairs short, 0.1-0.2 mm long, sometimes alternating with long hairs of 0.3-0.8 mm long. Flowers: pedicel 0.5-1.1 cm long (stretching to 1.5 cm when fruiting), tomentose; bracteoles ovate, acute, 5-8 mm long, 4-5 mm wide, tomentose outside, inside sparsely pubescent, caducous; sepals triangular, acute, 8-12 mm long, 4-6 mm wide, outside tomentose, inside glabrous; petals elliptic, acute, 1.5-2.9 cm long, 0.6-1.4 cm wide, outside tomentose, yellow-green when fresh, in sicco brown with bright yellow hairs, inside pubescent in a small triangle at the base and a thin line of indumentum on the Y shaped ridge; stamens 145-160, 1.5-2 mm long; carpels 20-35, 2 mm long, pubescent, hairs 0.3-0.8 mm long. Fruit: stipes 0.6-2.0 cm long, turning red at maturity, with a few hairs; monocarps 3-27, ellipsoid to obovoid, mucronate, 1.0-1.6 cm long, 0.4-0.9 cm in diameter, green turning red to almost black at maturity, with a few hairs.
A. chlorantha and A. affinis are distinguished as two different species. A. chlorantha being the rarer species, many collections have been identified as A. chlorantha, while they represented A. affinis. The three most obvious characteristics in which they differ are as follows. The midrib on the upper leaf-surface of A. chlorantha is usually pilose (at least at base, rarely glabrous), whereas that of A. affinis is glabrous. The lower leaf surface of A. chlorantha has few simple hairs pointing in all directions and besides that a lot of small bifid or trifid hairs, while that of A. affinis has predominantly simple hairs that point towards the leaf apex. Finally, the hairs on the carpels and young fruits of A. chlorantha are 0.3-0.8 mm long, those of A. affinis are only 0.1-0.3 mm.
The description of the fruit is based on young fruits only. However, derived from other species with young and mature fruits, the shape of the fruits and structure of the stipes is not expected to change a lot when the monocarps reach maturity. The sizes of the monocarps may be slightly larger in mature fruits.
An endemic of the northern part of the Lower Guinean centre of endemism, only known from southern Nigeria and south-western Cameroon
A. chlorantha is found in primary lowland rainforest, along roads and on slopes, at 150-850 m altitude.
The wood is used to build native houses. Pharmaceutical studies have shown prophylactic and anti-ulcer properties (Tan & al. 2000) and antimicrobial properties as well (Moody & al. 1995). A critical note is that due to the taxonomic confusion the material used for these studies may actually belong to A. affinis.