sp_bester's Favorites

It was apparently not surprising I could find nothing at the herbarium matching this little Ceropegia from the Mavhuradonha Area on the Great Dyke in northern Zimbabwe. Some correspondence revealed this as a likely new and undescribed species. It is another one that finally got named when the Asclepiadoideae volume of Flora Zambesiaca got released two years ago.

Chirinda Forest must be one of the best documented areas in Zimbabwe regarding its biodiversity. It once was the personal collecting ground of arguably the greatest naturalist in the history of biology in the entire region, Charles Francis Massey Swynnerton (1877-1938). Numerous species in both flora and fauna were first collected by Swynnerton at Chirinda Forest and many were named in his honour such as the bird Swynnerton's Robin (Swynnertonia swynnertoni), Swynnerton's reedfrog (Hyperolius swynnertonii),a species of African wormlizard (Chirindia swynnertoni) and at least 40 species of plants.
Even since the time of Swynnerton's exploits Chirinda Forest has been visited and researched by many other natural history scientists who thoroughly documented its rich and often unique flora and fauna. The area has been protected to this day as a forest reserve and is still intact while accessible.
The area is certainly well worth a visit for both general nature lovers as well as the more scientifically inclined naturalists. Of course with an area as well-defined, well-documented and relatively small (606 hectares or 1,500 acres) one would not expect to likely find anything completely new and unknown. Yet in December 2011 I spent a week there with Petra Ballings and Mark Hyde to record the flora for our Online Zimbabwe Flora and one plant had us stumped as to its identity. It was a climber, growing deep in the shade of the forest, belonging to the family Apocynaceae. Afterwards we could not find any matching specimens at the National Herbarium and I decided to send the images and a specimen to experts in this family at Kew Botanic Gardens but even there the identity of our find remained an enigma.
As always in these matters it took a long time before the puzzle was solved but recently the Flora Zambesiaca volume on the Apocynaceae subfamily Asclepiadoideae was released. Several new taxa to science have been published in the volume including our collection named Marsdenia chirindensis. A wonderful and very pleasant surprise to know that Pliny the Elder was right 2000 years ago when he said ‘Semper aliquid novi Africam adferre', There Is Always Something New Out Of Africa.

Found 12 plants growing along the roadside, many growing under short Acacia trees and growing through them. Fruit parasitised by a wasp which appeared to lay its eggs on the inside of the fruit but on the outside seed pod wall. Larva eat their way into the seedpod. There was a puncture hole on the fruit wall.