Three new African Ficus species and a comment on Ficus gnaphalocarpa ( Moraceæ)

Three new species are described from the Cameroun-Gabon-area : Ficus abscondila C. C. Berg, F. oresbia C. C. Berg and F. subsaginifolia Mildbraed ex C. C. Berg.A key to these and related species is given.F. gnaphalo¬ carpa (Miq.) A. Rich. is reduced to a subspecies of F. sycomorus L.Résumé : Description de trois espèces nouvelles du Cameroun et du Gabon : Ficus abscondila C. C. Berg, F. oresbia C. C. Berg et F. subsaginifolia Mildbraed ex C. C. Berg.Une clé de détermination de ces espèces et des espèces voisines est proposée.F. gnaphalocarpa (Miq.) A. Rich.est considéré comme une sous-espèce de F. sycomorus L. C. C. Berg, Inslilule for Syslemalic Botany, Heidelberglaan 2, Utrecht, Nelherlands.In the course of a révision of Ficus for the floras of Cameroun and Gabon three new species were recognized in the material studied.Ail belong to subgenus Urostigma (Gasp.)Miquel sect.Galoglychia (Gasp.)Endl.(= subg.Bibracteatæ Mildbr.& Burret), and within this subgenus to a group of species which can be designated as the Ficus conraui-lyrata group, comprising the majority of the species of sect.Cyalhistipulæ Mildbraed & Burret (1911).The représentatives of this group are usually epiphytic, often more or less lianescent shrubs or small trees, but may develop into large trees.The stipules are mostly persistent.The leaves are strbglabrous and more or less firmly coriaceous.The figs are often relatively large and sessile, or, if pedunculate, then mostly with a stipitate réceptacle.The fruits are distinctly bicolorous, the outer layer of the upper part is often mucilaginous; the anthers are often apiculate.The species of this group are distinctly associated with rain forests and often occur in swampy or periodically flooded riverside forests.The pollinators hitherto described belong to the genus Agaon (cf.Wiebes, 1974, 1976).The Ficus conrauilyrata group probably comprises 19 species of which 14 are known from Cameroun and Gabon.Fives species, F. crassicosta De Wildeman (= F. epiphytica De Wildeman), F. scott-elliotii Mildbraed & Burret, F. kirkii Hutchinson, F. ardisioides Warburg, and F. arcuato-nervata Hutchinson, are not found in the floristic région studied, and their presumed relationships with the 14 species studied hâve not been established.