Compilation
Saintpaulia nitida

USES. None recorded on herbarium specimens. CONSERVATION This taxon has been d as locally common both near Mhonda Mission (Mabberley & Pócs 695) and at Ruhamba (Semsei 1463) in the Nguru Mts, and may not be threatened here. Mid-altitude forests in these mountains are however threatened by human encroachment, with some areas cleared or degraded. The extent to which this impacts upon subsp. nitida is unclear; it is therefore assesed as Data Deficient (DD). This subspecies is the southern Nguru Mts equivalent of subsp. velutina, sharing a similar leaf shape and margin, corolla indumentum and capsule shape to the lower altitude Nguru populations of that taxon. They are distinguishable by the very different vegetative indumentum and the thin, less fleshy, shiny leaves. One collection from Kanga Mt (Haston 77!) however appears intermediate between the two, having dense subapressed short hairs and suberect long hairs on the leaves. Subsp. nitida can also appear very similar to densely pubescent variants of subsp. grotei although the capsules are generally longer. It is also close to subsp. occidentalis, particularly in capsule shape; the latter however has a less dense indumentum and a caulescent habit.