M. G. Gilbert

Notes on the genus Aloe in Ethiopia: misinterpreted taxa

Summary. Reynolds over-emphasized type localities at the expense of making full use of protologue descriptions and referring to original specimens. He misinterpreted Aloe pirottae, applying the name to an undescribed species here described as A. parvidens. Aloe boranensis was also misinterpreted and is here shown to be conspecific with A. otallensis and not of hybrid origin. Aloe otallensis var. elongata is renamed as a new species, A. rugosifolia. Aloe ruspoliana var. dracaeniformis is identified as A. retrospiciens.

Two distinctive new species of Commicarpus (Nyctaginaceae) from gypsum outcrops in eastern Ethiopia

SummaryDuring field trips in 2013 and 2014, two distinctive plants belonging to the genus Commicarpus were collected in the Lele Hills, Bale Zone, eastern Ethiopia, on outcrops of sedimentary rock belonging to the Gorrahei Formation with high contents of gypsum. The plants are here described as two new species: Commicarpus macrothamnus Friis & O. Weber sp. nov. is unique among all hitherto described species of Commicarpus, being a robust free-standing shrub, almost a small tree up to 3½ m high, with woody stems up to c. 12 cm in diam. Commicarpus leleensis Friis & Sebsebe sp. nov. is also unusual in Commicarpus, being a small self-supporting shrub to 0.8 (– 1) m high. Both new species occur in small populations with restricted distribution; models based on the available information show that the potential distribution is also restricted. C. macrothamnus is here evaluated as Vulnerable (VU), while C. leleensis, only known from the type, should remain Data Deficient (DD). Outcrops of gypsum with restricted-range species are well known from eastern Ethiopia and Somalia, but the locality with the two new species of Commicarpus is the most north-western and one of the highest sites recorded so far for gypsum endemics.

A new species of Aloe from Southwest Ethiopia

The aloes of Ethiopia, Somalia and Tropical East Africa are covered by recent floristic accounts (Carter 1994; Lavranos 1995; Sebsebe & Gilbert 1997). In 1996, whilst the Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea was still in press, the first author, together with Ensermu Kelbessa, encountered sterile plants of a small aloe that could not be placed. These were growing in deciduous woodland dominated by Combretum and Terminalia, under a thicket of Euclea schimperi (A. DC.) Dandy and Acacia hockii De Wild. Living material taken back to Addis Abeba has survived but has not yet flowered. Recently (1998) I. Friis (Copenhagen) and S. Bidgood (Kew) collected flowering material of what is clearly the same taxon, but a little further to the south. This showed that the plants belonged to a new species which is described here as Aloe friisii.

The Gerire Hills, a SE Ethiopian outpost of the transitional semi-evergreen bushland: vegetation, endemism and three new species, Croton elkerensis (Euphorbiaceae), Gnidia elkerensis (Thymelaeaceae), and Plectranthus spananthus (Lamiaceae)

ABSTRACT The vegetation of the plateaux of the Gerire Hills, of unique geology, represents an outlier of the Transitional semi-evergreen bushland of the eastern escarpment of the Ethiopian highlands, about 160 km from continuously distributed vegetation of this type. In the lowland surrounding the hills is deciduous Acacia-Commiphora bushland, typical of the Somalia-Masai region. Unpublished data from a 1937 Italian expedition documents past existence of Juniperus procera on the plateaux. Three new narrowly endemic species are described here from recently collected material: Croton elkerensis Friis & M.G. Gilbert (Euphorbiaceae), Gnidia elkerensis Friis & Sebsebe (Thymelaeaceae), and Plectranthus spananthus A.J. Paton, Friis & Sebsebe (Lamiaceae). Three previously described species from the hills, Blepharispermum obovatum Chiov. (Asteraceae), Aloe elkerriana Dioli & T.A.McCoy (Aloaceae) and Euphorbia bertemariae Bisseret & Dioli (Euphorbiaceae), are narrow endemics. The species most similar to the bushland endemics occur in a range of vegetation types and phytochoria in East Africa south of Ethiopia or more widespread in Africa. The species most similar to the succulent endemics occur elsewhere in semi-evergreen bushland on limestone at the mountain range in northern Somalia. The Gerire Hills endemics are considered Vulnerable (VU) or Least Concern (LC) given the differing threats to their respective habitats.

Kalanchoe hypseloleuce (Crassulaceae), a new species from eastern Ethiopia, with notes on its habitat

SummaryA new species of Kalanchoe, K. hypseloleuce Friis & M. G. Gilbert, was found during field work in Ethiopia in 2015, and is established here. It is characterised by its tall stature (2 – 3 m), entire, sessile, lanceolate leaves and pure white flowers with abaxially minutely papillose corolla lobes (otherwise, the plant is glabrous). It is not obviously related to any previously known species, but an earlier, incomplete specimen has been cited as K. prittwitzii Engl. in the literature. K. hypseloleuce was collected on limestone in Acacia-Commiphora woodland and bushland at c. 1400 m a.s.l. It occurs in the southern part of the eastern Ethiopian escarpment in the Arsi and Eastern Harerghe zones of the Oromo Regional State. K. hypseloleuce is documented with images and maps, its climate envelope has been modelled, and a conservation assessment made. With the current level of threat, this could be Vulnerable to Near Threatened (VU-NT). Given the threat from habitat degradation is not imminent, we recommend the species to be listed as Near Threatened (NT).