Entry From
Flora of Tropical East Africa, page 1, (2008) Author: S.A. GHAZANFAR, F.N. HEPPER & D. PHILCOX
Names
Pseudosopubia hildebrandtii (Vatke) Engl. [family SCROPHULARIACEAE], in Ann. Ist. Bot. Roma 7: 28 (1897) & in E.J. 23: 511 (1897); Hemsley & Skan in F.T.A. 4(2): 442 (1906); Blundell, Wild Fl. E. Afr.: 377, pl. 787 (1987); U.K.W.F.: 259, pl. 111 (1994); Fischer in Thulin (ed.), Fl. Somal.: 3: 285 (2006) & in Fl. Ethiop. & Eritr. 5: 290 (2006). Type: Kenya, Kwale/Kilifi District: Maji ya Chumvi [Tchamtéi] in Duruma, Hildebrandt 2314b (B†, holo.). Neotype: Kenya, Northern Frontier District: Moyale, Gillett 12843 (K!, chosen here)
Sopubia hildebrandtii Vatke [family SCROPHULARIACEAE], in Linnaea 43: 314 (1882)
Sopubia kituiensis Vatke [family SCROPHULARIACEAE], in Linnaea 43: 313 (1882). Type: Kenya, Kitui, Hildebrandt 2757 (K!, holo.)
Pseudosopubia obtusifolia Engl. [family SCROPHULARIACEAE], in Ann. Ist. Bot. Roma 7: 28 (1897) & in E.J. 23: 511, t. 13l–q (1897); Hemsley & Skan in F.T.A. 4(2): 444 (1906). Type: Ethiopia, between Karena and Daua, Riva 950 (FT, holo.)
Pseudosopubia kituiensis (Vatke) Engl. [family SCROPHULARIACEAE], in Ann. Ist. Bot. Roma 7: 28 (1897) & in E.J. 23: 511 (1897); Hemsley & Skan in F.T.A. 4(2): 442 (1906)
Pseudosopubia ambigua Hemsl. & Skan [family SCROPHULARIACEAE], in F.T.A. 4(2): 443 (1906). Type: Tanzania, Lushoto District: Usambaras, Umba Valley, Smith s.n. (K!, holo.)
Pseudosopubia elata Hemsl. & Skan [family SCROPHULARIACEAE], in F.T.A. 4(2): 443 (1906). Type: Kenya, Lamu District: Witu, A.S. Thomas 9 (K!, holo.)
Pseudosopubia polemonioides Chiov. [family SCROPHULARIACEAE], Fl. Somal. 2: 338 (1932). Type: Somalia, Lake Dera, Balladelli 287 (FT, holo.)
Distribution
KENYA Baringo District Kampi ya Samaki, Baringo lodge, 11 June 1977, Gilbert 4730!KENYA Machakos District Garabani valley, 30 Mar. 1940, van Someren 259!KENYA Kwale District Tanga–Mombasa road, 14 Aug. 1953, Drummond & Hemsley 3748!TANZANIA Lushoto District Usambaras, Umba Valley, Dec. 1892, Smith s.n.!UGANDA Karamoja District Upe, near Kisei, June 1955, M.S. Philip 694! & 20 km S of Moroto, 13 Sept. 1956, Bally 10808!; Nakiloro, 16 June 1963, Kertland 472!
Notes
USES. A cold fusion of leaves left standing for 5 days is used for bathing babies suffering from malaria (recorded on sheet from Kenya, Bally 5843). CONSERVATION Least Concern (LC); widespread and common. This species is very variable in its habit, pubescence of stem, leaf and calyx, and the size and shape of leaves. Sparsely strigose to glabrescent plants with a straggling habit, and generally narrower leaves have been separated as P. kituiensis. I (S.A.G.) have looked at most of the material of this and that identified as P. kituiensis, and that variation in characters d above is present throughout the range of the species. It seems to me that P. kituiensis is a herbaceous and glabrescent form of S. hildebrandtii localized in one area from where the type has been collected. Other material from the same area identified as P. kituiensis, (K4, Machakos/Kitui District: e.g. Napper 1640, Bally 8065, Gardner 3695) do not show the same characters as the type. Based on my observations it is difficult to give P. kituiensis a separate status.