Vol. 80 No. 1 (2025)
Articles

Begonia ebo sp. nov. (Sect. Filicibegonia-Begoniaceae), endangered in Ebo, a highly threatened forest in Littoral Region, Cameroon

PDF
  • Helen Lockwood,
  • Eric Ngansop Tchatchouang
Helen Lockwood
Beechcroft, Gupworthy, Wheddon Cross, Minehead, Somerset, TA24 7DA, UK
Eric Ngansop Tchatchouang
IRAD-National Herbarium of Cameroon Yaoundé, PO Box 1601, Yaoundé, Cameroon
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/jopt-17739

Published 2025-04-17

Keywords

  • Cross-Sanaga River interval,
  • epiphyllous,
  • yellow-flowered

How to Cite

Lockwood, H., & Tchatchouang, E. N. (2025). Begonia ebo sp. nov. (Sect. Filicibegonia-Begoniaceae), endangered in Ebo, a highly threatened forest in Littoral Region, Cameroon. Webbia, 80(1), 77–87. https://doi.org/10.36253/jopt-17739

Copyright (c) 2025 Helen Lockwood, Eric Ngansop Tchatchouang

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Begonia ebo H.Lockwood sp. nov., a terrestrial herb endemic to Cameroon cloud forest, is described, mapped and illustrated. It is the first species of Begonia Section Filicibegonia known to have yellow flowers (vs pink or white), to have inflorescences that are epiphyllous, appearing to emerge from the upper leaf surface (vs ordinarily axillary) and, also, the first species of the section known to be endemic to Cameroon. It is also endemic to the Cross-Sanaga River Interval. In contrast, six of the nine species of Sect. Filicibegonia are endemic to the interval between the Sanaga River of Cameroon and the Congo River. So far Begonia ebo is only known from inside or adjacent to the Ebo forest, Littoral Region, Cameroon, apart from a single record from the Chaine de Nkohom in Central Region c. 60 km distant. In view of the massive ongoing threats of industrial logging to the Ebo Forest, the stronghold and main centre of this species on current evidence, the conservation status of Begonia ebo is provisionally assessed as Endangered, EN B1 ab(iii) +B2ab(iii).

PDF

References

  1. Abwe EE, Morgan BJ. 2008. The Ebo Forest: four years of preliminary research and conservation of the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes vellerosus). Pan Africa News. 15: 26–29. https://doi.org/10.5134/143494.
  2. Ardi W, Campos-Dom inguez L, Chung K-F, Dong W-K, Drinkwater E et al. 2022. Resolving Phylogenetic and Taxonomic Conflict in Begonia. Edinburgh Journal of Botany. 79. https://doi.org/10.24823/ejb.2022.1928
  3. Barthlott W, Lauer W, Placke A. 1996. Global distribution of species diversity in vascular plants: towards a world map of phytodiversity. Erdkunde. 50: 317–327 https://doi.org/10.1007/s004250050096
  4. Beentje H, Cheek M. 2003. Glossary. In: Beentje H. (Ed), Flora of Tropical East Africa. Balkema, Lisse.
  5. Breteler FJ. 1996. Dichapetalum korupinum (Dichapetalaceae): a new species from the Korup National Park in Cameroun. Kew Bulletin. 51: 201–203.
  6. Brown MJ, Bachman SP, Lughadha EN. 2023. Three in four undescribed plant species are threatened with extinction. New Phytologist. 240(4): 1340–1344. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.19214
  7. Cable S, Cheek M. 1998. The Plants of Mt Cameroon, a Conservation Checklist. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  8. Chapman J, Chapman H. 2001. The Forests of Taraba and Adamawa States, Nigeria an Ecological Account and Plant Species Checklist. University of Canterbury: Christchurch, New Zealand. pp. 221.
  9. Cheek M. 2017. Microcos magnifica (Sparmanniaceae) a new species of cloudforest tree from Cameroon. PeerJ. 5:e4137 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4137
  10. Cheek M, Cable S. 1997. Plant Inventory for conservation management: the Kew-Earthwatch programme in Western Cameroon, 1993–96: 29–38. In Doolan S. (Ed.), African Rainforests and the Conservation of Biodiversity, Earthwatch Europe, Oxford.
  11. Cheek M, Csiba, L. 2002. A new epiphytic species of Impatiens (Balsaminaceae) from western Cameroon. Kew Bulletin. 57: 669–674. https://doi.org/10.2307/4110997
  12. Cheek M, Williams, S. 1999. A Review of African Saprophytic Flowering Plants. In: Timberlake, Kativu eds. African Plants. Biodiversity, Taxonomy & Uses. Proceedings of the 15th AETFAT Congress at Harare. Zimbabwe. Pp. 39–49.
  13. Cheek M, Xanthos M. 2012. Ardisia ebo sp. nov. (Myrsinaceae), a creeping forest subshrub of Cameroon and Gabon. Kew Bulletin. 67: 281–284. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-012-9362-8
  14. Cheek M, Achoundong G, Onana J-M, Pollard B, Gosline G, Moat J, Harvey YB. 2006. Conservation of the Plant Diversity of Western Cameroon. In: Ghazanfar SA, Beentje HJ. (Eds). Proceedings of the 17th AETFAT Congress. Pp. 779–791. Addis Ababa. Ethiopia.
  15. Cheek M, Alvarez-Agiurre MG, Grall A, Sonké B, Howes M-JR, Larridon L. 2018b. Kupeantha (Coffeeae, Rubiaceae), a new genus from Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. PLoS ONE. 13: 20199324. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0199324
  16. Cheek M, Cable S, Hepper FN, Ndam N, Watts J. 1996. Mapping plant biodiversity on Mt. Cameroon. In: van der Maesen LJG, van der Burgt XM, van Medenbach de Rooy JM. (Eds.), The Biodiversity of African Plants. Proceedings XIV AETFAT Congress. Kluwer. Pp. 110–120.
  17. Cheek M, Etuge M, Williams S. 2019. Afrothismia kupensis sp. nov. (Thismiaceae), Critically Endangered, with observations on its pollination and notes on the endemics of Mt Kupe, Cameroon. Blumea. 64: 158–164. https://doi.org/10.3767/blumea.2019.64.02.06
  18. Cheek M, Feika A, Lebbie A, Goyder D, Tchiengue B, Sene O, Tchouto P, van der Burgt X. 2017. A synoptic revision of Inversodicraea (Podostemaceae). Blumea. 62: 125–156. https://doi.org/10.3767/blumea.2017.62.02.07
  19. Cheek M, Gosline G, Onana JM. 2018d. Vepris bali (Rutaceae), a new critically endangered (possibly extinct) cloud forest tree species from Bali Ngemba, Cameroon. Willdenowia. 48: 285–292. https://doi.org/10.3372/wi.48.48207
  20. Cheek M, Harvey YB, Onana J-M. 2010. The Plants of Dom. Bamenda Highlands, Cameroon: A Conservation Checklist. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  21. Cheek M, Harvey Y, Onana J-M. 2011. The Plants of Mefou Proposed National Park. Yaoundé, Cameroon: A Conservation Checklist. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  22. Cheek M, Mackinder BM, Gosline G, Onana JM, Achoundong G. 2001. The phytogeography and flora of western Cameroon and the Cross River-Sanaga River interval. Systematics and Geography of Plants. 71: 1097–1100. https://doi.org/10.2307/3668742
  23. Cheek M, Nic Lughadha E, Kirk P, Lindon, H, et al. 2020. New scientific discoveries: plants and fungi. Plants, People Planet. 2: 371–388. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10148
  24. Cheek M, Onana J-M, Pollard BJ. 2000. The Plants of Mount Oku and the Ijim Ridge, Cameroon, a Conservation Checklist. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  25. Cheek M, Osborne J, van der Burgt X, Darbyshire I, Onana JM. 2023a. Impatiens banen and Impatiens etugei (Balsaminaceae), new threatened species from lowland of the Cross-Sanaga Interval, Cameroon. Kew Bulletin. 78(1): 67–82.
  26. Cheek M, Pollard BJ, Darbyshire I, Onana JM, Wild C. 2004. The Plants of Kupe, Mwanenguba and the Bakossi Mts, Cameroon. A Conservation Checklist. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  27. Cheek M, Prenner G, Tchiengué B, Faden RB. 2018a. Notes on the endemic plant species of the Ebo Forest, Cameroon, and the new, Critically Endangered, Palisota ebo (Commelinaceae. Plant Ecology & Evolution. 151: 434–441. https://doi.org/10.5091/plecevo.2018.1503
  28. Cheek M, Sidwell K, Sunderland T, Faruk A. 1992. A Botanical Inventory of the Mabeta-Moliwe Forest. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; report to Govt. Cameroon from O.D.A.
  29. Cheek M, Soto Gomez M, Graham SW, Rudall PJ. 2023b. Afrothismiaceae (Dioscoreales), a new fully mycoheterotrophic family endemic to tropical Africa. Kew Bulletin. 79: 55-73. doi: 10.1007/S12225-023-10124-W
  30. Cheek M, Tchiengué B, van der Burgt X. 2021. Taxonomic revision of the threatened African genus Pseudohydrosme Engl. (Araceae), with P. ebo, a new, critically endangered species from Ebo, Cameroon. PeerJ. 9:e10689 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10689.
  31. Cheek M, Tsukaya H, Rudall, PJ, Suetsugu K. 2018c. Taxonomic monograph of Oxygyne (Thismiaceae), rare achlorophyllous mycoheterotrophs with strongly disjunct distribution. PeerJ. 6: e4828. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4828
  32. Couvreur TLP, Dagallier L-P, Crozier F, Ghogue J-P, Hoekstra PH, Kamdem NG, Johnson DM, Murray N, Sonké B. 2022. Flora of Cameroon 45–Annonaceae. Phytokeys. 207, 1–532.
  33. Dagallier LP, Janssens SB, Dauby G, Blach‐Overgaard A, Mackinder BA, Droissart V, Svenning JC, Sosef MS, Stévart T, Harris DJ, Sonké B. 2020. Cradles and museums of generic plant diversity across tropical Africa. New Phytologist. 225: 2196–2213. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16293
  34. Darbyshire I, Anderson S, Asatryan A, Byfield A, Cheek M, Clubbe C, Ghrabi Z, Harris T, Heatubun CD, Kalema J, Magassouba S, McCarthy B, Milliken W, de Montmollin B, Lughadha EN, Onana J-M, Saïdou D, Sârbu A, Shrestha K, Radford EA. 2017. Important Plant Areas: revised selection criteria for a global approach to plant conservation. Biodiversity Conservation. 26: 1767–1800. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-017-1336-6.
  35. Darbyshire I, Kiel CA, Antonio-Domnigues, H, Cheek M, Onana JM. in press. Cryptacanthus: a new genus of Acanthaceae from the Guineo-Congolian forests of tropical Africa. Kew Bulletin.
  36. De Wilde, J. J. F. E. 2001. Begonia montis-elephantis. A new species in section Scutobegonia from Cameroon. Wageningen University Papers. 2: 259–266.
  37. De Wilde, J.J.F.E, Doorenbos J, Sosef MSM. 2009. Begoniaceae. Flore Du Gabon 39: 1-109. Nationaal Herbarium Nederland, Leiden.
  38. Doorenbos J, Sosef MSM, de Wilde JJFE. 1998. The Sections of Begonia (Studies in Begoniaceae VI) Wageningen Agricultural University Paper. 98–2 (1998).
  39. Forrest LL, Hughes M, Hollingsworth PM. 2005. A phylogeny of Begonia using nuclear ribosomal sequence data and morphological characters. Systematic Botany. 30(3): 671–682.
  40. Ghogue JP, Sonké B, Couvreur TL. 2017. Taxonomic revision of the African genera Brieya and Piptostigma (Annonaceae). Plant Ecology and Evolution. 150(2): 173–216.
  41. Gosline G, Bidault E, van der Burgt X, Cahen D, Challen G, Condé N, Couch C, Couvreur TLP, Dagallier L-PMJ, Darbyshire I, Dawson S, Seni Foré T, Goyder D, Grall A, Haba P, Harris D, Hind DJN, Jongkind C, Konomou G, Larridon I, Lewis G, Ley A, Lock M, Lucas E, Magassouba S, Mayo S, Molmou D, Monro A, Onana JM, Paiva J, Paton A, Phillips S, Prance G, Quintanar A, Rokni S, Shah T, Schrire B, Schuiteman A, Giraldes Simões AR, Sosef M, Stévart T, Stone RD, Utteridge T, Eilkin P, Xanthos M, Lughadha EN, Cheek M. 2023. A Taxonomically-verified and Vouchered Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea. Scientific Data. 10: 327 2023. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02236-6
  42. Gosline G, Cheek M, Onana JM, Ngansop Tchatchouang E, van der Burgt XM, MacKinnon L, Dagallier LMJ. 2022. Uvariopsis dicaprio (Annonaceae) a new tree species with notes on its pollination biology, and the Critically Endangered narrowly endemic plant species of the Ebo Forest, Cameroon. PeerJ. Jan 6;9:e12614. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12614
  43. Harvey YB, Pollard BJ, Darbyshire I, Onana J-M, Cheek M. 2004. The Plants of Bali Ngemba Forest Reserve. Cameroon: A Conservation Checklist. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  44. Harvey YB, Tchiengue B, Cheek M. 2010. The Plants of the Lebialem Highlands, a Conservation Checklist. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  45. Hughes M, Moonlight PW, Jara-Muñoz A, Tebbitt MC, Wilson HP, Zhong K, Mills T, Pullan, M. 2015–. Begonia Resource Centre. Online database available from http://padme.rbge.org.uk/begonia/. (accessed 21 July 2024).
  46. Humphreys AM, Govaerts R, Ficinski SZ, Lughadha EN, Vorontsova MS. 2019. Global dataset shows geography and life form predict modern plant extinction and rediscovery. Nature Ecology & Evolution. 3.7: 1043–1047. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0906-2
  47. IPNI continuously updated. The International Plant Names Index. http://ipni.org/ (accessed: 04/2024).
  48. Irmscher E. 1961 Monographische Revision der begoniaceen Afrikas I. Botanische Jahrbücher. 81: 106–188.
  49. IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1. Second edition.–Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN. Available from: http://www.iucnredlist.org/ (accessed: April 2024).
  50. Kew Science News 2020. Ebo Forest Logging Plans Suspended. https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/ebo-forest-logging-suspended (accessed 5 April 2024).
  51. Mackinder BA, Wieringa JJ, Burgt van der XM. 2010. A revision of the genus Talbotiella Baker f. (Caesalpinioideae: Leguminosae). Kew Bulletin. 65: 401–420. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-010-9217-0
  52. Maas-van de Kamer H, Maas PJM, Wieringa JJ, Specht CD. 2016. Monograph of African Costus. Blumea - Biodiversity, Evolution and Biogeography of Plants. 61: 280–318. https://doi.org/10.3767/000651916X694445
  53. Maisels FM. Cheek M, Wild C. 2000. Rare plants on Mt Oku summit, Cameroon. Oryx. 34: 136–140. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0030605300031057.
  54. Murphy B, Onana JM, van der Burgt XM, Tchatchouang Ngansop E, Williams J, Tchiengué B, Cheek M. 2023. Important Plant Areas of Cameroon. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  55. Onana J-M. 2011. The Vascular Plants of Cameroon. A Taxonomic Checklist with IUCN Assessments. Flore Du Cameroun 39. Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
  56. Onana JM, Cheek M 2011. Red Data Book of the Flowering Plants of Cameroon, IUCN Global Assessments. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  57. Prance GT, Jongkind CCH. 2015. A revision of African Lecythidaceae. Kew Bulletin. 70: 6: 13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-014-9547-4
  58. Sosef MSM, Wieringa JJ, Jongkind CCH, Achoundong G, Azizet Issembé Y, Bedigian D, Van Den Berg RG, Breteler FJ, Cheek M, Degreef J. 2006. Check-list des plantes vasculaires du Gabon. Scripta Botanica Belgica. 35 : 1-435. National Botanic Garden of Belgium.
  59. Stoffelen P, Cheek M, Bridson D, Robbrecht E. 1997. A new species of Coffea (Rubiaceae) and notes on Mt Kupe (Cameroon. Kew Bulletin. 52: 989–994. https://doi.org/10.2307/4117826
  60. Stone RD, Tchiengué B, Cheek M 2023. The endemic plant species of Ebo Forest, Littoral Region, Cameroon with a new Critically Endangered cloud forest shrub, Memecylon ebo (Melastomataceae-Olisbeoideae). bioRxiv 12.20.572583; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.12.20.572583
  61. Thiers B. continuously updated. Index Herbariorum: A global directory of public herbaria and associated staff. New York Botanical Garden’s Virtual Herbarium. [continuously updated].–Available from: http://sweetgum.nybg.org/ih/ (accessed: Feb. 2023).
  62. Turland NJ, Wiersema JH, Barrie FR, Greuter W, Hawksworth DL, Herendeen PS, Knapp S, Kusber W-H, Li D-Z, Marhold K, May TW, McNeill J, Monro AM, Prado J, Price MJ, Smith GF. (ed.) 2018. International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Shenzhen Code) adopted by the Nineteenth International Botanical Congress Shenzhen, China, July 2017.–Glashütten: Koeltz Botanical Books. [= Regnum Veg. 159]
  63. White F. 1983. The vegetation of Africa (Natural Resources Research Vol. 20). UNESCO, Paris.