title: Discovering Karima (Euphorbiaceae), a New Crotonoid Genus from West Tropical Africa Long Hidden within Croton.
abstract: Croton scarciesii (Euphorbiaceae-Crotonoideae), a rheophytic shrub from West Africa, is shown to have been misplaced in Croton for 120 years, having none of the diagnostic characters of that genus, but rather a set of characters present in no known genus of the family. Pollen analysis shows that the new genus Karima belongs to the inaperturate crotonoid group. Analysis of a concatenated molecular dataset combining trnL-F and rbcL sequences positioned Karima as sister to Neoholstia from south eastern tropical Africa in a well-supported clade comprised of genera of subtribes Grosserineae and Neoboutonieae of the inaperturate crotonoid genera. Several morphological characters support the relationship of Karima with Neoholstia, yet separation is merited by numerous characters usually associated with generic rank in Euphorbiaceae. Quantitative ecological data and a conservation assessment supplement illustrations and descriptions of the taxon.
authors.affiliation: Science Department, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cheek
authors.affiliation: Science Department, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Gill
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Challen
authors.affiliation: National Herbarium of Sierra Leone, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Njala University, PMB, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
authors.forename: Aiah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lebbie
authors.affiliation: Science Department, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Banks
authors.affiliation: Department of Biodiversity and Conservation, Real Jardín Botánico, RJB-CSIC, Plaza de Murillo, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Barberá
authors.affiliation: Department of Biodiversity and Conservation, Real Jardín Botánico, RJB-CSIC, Plaza de Murillo, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Ricarda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Riina
mesh_terms: D000354:Africa, Western; D019665:Euphorbiaceae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D017343:Genes, Plant; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D010802:Phylogeny; D011058:Pollen / Q000648:ultrastructure