Talbotiella cheekii (Leguminosae: Detarioideae), a new tree species from Guinea

It came as a great surprise to discover a new tree species of Talbotiella Baker. f. in Guinea. One of the localities of the new species ( Burgt 2188) is situated at only 46 km northeast of the centre of the capital Conakry and 6 km northeast of the town centre of Coyah, part of the Conakry urban agglomeration. The new species is located 1400 km further west from the distribution area of Talbotiella gentii Hutch. & Greenway in Ghana, the westernmost of the eight previously known Talbotiella species (Mackinder et al . 2010b ). The new species is found in and near Coyah Préfecture where it occurs gregariously in forested valleys of a sandstone plateau. Although it is very common in some of these valleys, it had never before been collected, perhaps because collectors were focussing on areas further inland, in the Fouta Djalon, where more interesting plant collecting opportunities were thought to exist. The short flowering period may also have contributed to the new species remaining unnoticed for so long. This, however, changed when Martin Cheek, head of the Africa and Madagascar Team of the Identification and Naming Department of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, turned his attention to the last remaining forest patches in the valleys on the sandstone plateau of the Coyah Préfecture. In September 2015, he collected the first specimens of the new species.