''Uvariopsis dicaprio'' is a species of

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

tree in the genus ''

Uvariopsis ''Uvariopsis'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Annonaceae. The genus is unique to Africa, and consists of about 18 species, all of which are either ramiflorous, cauliflorous or both. The type species for the genus is '' Uvariopsis ...

''. It is endemic to the Ebo Forest, in the Littoral Region of

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. It was the first new plant species described in 2022, and was named after American actor Leonardo DiCaprio by botanists Martin Cheek and George Gosline, from the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

. ''U. dicaprio'' is classified as Critically Endangered in the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

Description

''U. dicaprio'' is an evergreen tree reaching tall. Its trunk is smooth and tapering, reaching a diameter of "1.8–2.5 cm … at 1.5 m above the ground", with dark brown bark and occasional white horizontal

lenticel A lenticel is a porous tissue consisting of cells with large intercellular spaces in the periderm of the secondarily thickened organs and the bark of woody stems and roots of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It functions as a pore, providing a ...

s. Its leaves are

oblanceolate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

, and are typically 17.7–20.3 cm long (but sometimes as long as 23 cm) and typically 7–7.9 cm wide (but sometimes only 6.4 cm wide). They are hairless, and coloured "pale yellow-green" but later turn "orangish brown". Their arrangement is distichous, and they are typically spaced 1.5–2.8 cm apart (but are sometimes as close as 1.2 cm or as far as 4.3 cm). The specimen collected had only male flowers, but Gosline & Cheek et al. hypothesise that ''U. dicaprio'' is

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system alongside gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy. Monoecy is conne ...

, with separate male and female flowers. Its male flowers are cauliflorous, growing directly from the stem, and glossy. Their

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

, which connect the flower to the stem, are 1.8–2.5 cm long and about 1 mm in diameter. Each flower has two

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s and four

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s. The sepals are 1–1.5 by 2.1–2.5 mm and hairless. The petals are typically about 16 by 9 mm (but sometimes as small as 14 by 5.5 mm), and 0.25–0.3 mm thick; they are thin and leathery but not fleshy, and are "yellow-green when live" but black when dried. There are typically 4–7 flowers in each

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

(but sometimes as few as 1). It has similar conical flower buds to ''

Uvariopsis solheidii ''Uvariopsis'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Annonaceae. The genus is unique to Africa, and consists of about 18 species, all of which are either ramiflory, ramiflorous, cauliflory, cauliflorous or both. The type species for the ...

'', which can vary from ovoid-conical to pyramidal.

Habitat and range

''U. dicaprio'' is endemic to the Ebo Forest, in the Littoral Region of

. It has a limited range, having only been found on the Dicam trail 2000 meters away from Bekob camp; multiple botanical surveys in the Ebo Forest and surrounding areas have not identified any additional specimens. It is found in the

submontane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

, at elevations from 200 to 1,200 m.

Conservation status

''U. dicaprio'' is currently known from a single specimen; "fewer than 50 mature individuals have been observed despite extensive survey effort" and the species's noticeable flowers. It has a restricted range, with extent of occurrence and area of occupancy both estimated at , and is threatened by logging and conversion to agricultural land, including

slash-and-burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed vegeta ...

practices. Due to these factors, ''U. dicaprio'' was classified as Critically Endangered under version 3.1 of the

criteria.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q110442989 Annonaceae Plants described in 2022 Endemic flora of Cameroon Taxa named by Martin Cheek