THE GENERIC STATUS OF OXYANTHUS-GOSSWEILERI (RUBIACEAE) FROM ANGOLA

Oxyanthus gossweileri from Angola has been described from a single spe cimen collected in 1906. A search in herbaria holding Angolan collecti ons has revealed an additional flowering specimen, allowing a sound mo rphological and pollen morphological investigation. It is concluded th at O. gossweileri must be kept in the Gardenieae - Gardeniinae but des erves generic segregation. A new genus Ganguelia is described and the necessary new combination made, G. gossweileri is a pyrrhophytic geofr utex with densely hairy, suborbicular leaf blades with subpalmate vena tion, Chorologically, Ganguelia is endemic in the western part of the Zambezian Region; in the Rubiaceae, the monospecific Calanda (Knoxieae ) has a very similar narrow distribution. Ganguelia seems to exhibit t wo pollen morphological features which are not yet observed among the Gardenieae genera with tetrad pollen, namely, the +/- acalymmate condi tion of the tetrads and the colpoidorate grains, However, these latter occur together with the perorate ones characteristic for Gardenieae t etrads, A part of the tetrads are decussate; this arrangment, not yet reported from the Rubiaceae, was previously overlooked in several gene ra and is hence not a peculiarity of the new genus.