A revision of the 45 species of the pantropical genus Xylopia in Tropical Africa includes descriptions of six new species and a new section of the genus. The fruits and seeds of Xylopia show specializations that promote vertebrate dispersal, primarily by hornbills and monkeys. Over half of the African species have an Area of Occupancy (AOO) less than 80 km2, suggesting that they are in need of protection. African species are classified into five sections. Section Neoxylopia, with four species, is centered in the Guineo-Congolian Region and includes X. globosa sp. nov. Section Ancistropetala, with three species, occurs in the same region. Both of these sections are endemic to Africa. Section Xylopia, which extends to Madagascar and the American tropics, has only a single species in Africa, X. aethiopica. The three species of section Verdcourtia sect. nov. are restricted to the East African coast and Madagascar. The largest number of African species, (34) belong to section Stenoxylopia, in which the seeds lack the arils found in the other sections and instead have a fleshy sarcotesta. Section Stenoxylopia is divided into two informal groups, one centered in eastern and southern Africa (X. odoratissima group) and the other centered in the wetter forests of western and central Africa (X. acutiflora group). Five new species are described in section Stenoxylopia: Xylopia nilotica sp. nov. from Sudan, South Sudan, and Uganda, Xylopia calva sp. nov. from Nigeria and Cameroon, which is allied to X. phloiodora, and Xylopia monticola sp. nov. from Nigeria and Cameroon, X. piratae sp. nov. from Ivory Coast and Ghana, and X. unguiculata sp. nov. from Gabon. The latter three species are segregates of the former Xylopia acutiflora s. l. One new combination is made at the species level, X. shirensis comb. nov. Keys, descriptions, illustrations, distribution maps, and an index to numbered collections document diversity and assist with species identification. The name Unona oliveriana Baill. was found to pre-date the name Unona lepidota Oliv., requiring the combination Meiocarpidium oliverianum comb. nov. PhytoKeys 97: 1–252 (2018) doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.97.20975 http://phytokeys.pensoft.net Copyright David M. Johnson, Nancy A. Murray. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. MONOGRAPH Launched to accelerate biodiversity research A peer-reviewed open-access journal

A revision of Xylopia L. (Annonaceae): the species of Tropical Africa

A list of the Annonaceae taxa native to the Indo-Burmese Region is presented. Species are listed with synonyms and types, and the regional distribution is given by country (India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Burma). In total, 195 species from 28 genera are listed. Two new combinations, Monoon nitidum (A. DC.) I. M. Turner and Polyalthia malabarica (Bedd.) I. M. Turner, are included. Polyalthia corticosa (Pierre) Finet & Gagnep. is considered the correct name for P. obliqua in India and Bangladesh. Artabotrys cubittii Chatterjee is reduced to a synonym of A. burmanicus A. DC. Two new records for Burma, Polyalthia bullata King and Uvaria hahnii (Finet & Gagnep.) J. Sinclair, are presented.

A conspectus of Indo‐Burmese Annonaceae

Xylopia parvifolia (Wight) Hook.f. & Thomson (Annonaceae), based on Patonia parvifolia Wight, is a tree species native to Sri Lanka and India. Unfortunately the widely used name is an illegitimate later homonym. Xylopia patoniae I.M.Turner is here proposed as an avowed substitute. There have been two proposals to lectotypify Patonia Wight. The earliest, and one to be followed, proposed Patonia parvifolia Wight as the lectotype, maintaining Patonia as a synonym of Xylopia. A later proposal to make Patonia walkeri Wight (≡ Diospyros walkeri (Wight) Gurke) the type has to be disregarded.

I. M. Turner

Papers

A new name for a south asian xylopia (annonaceae) species