Meliolaceae and Asterinaceae of the Shimba Hills, Kenya

Abstract

The present study deals with Ascomycetes causing black leaf spots on indigenous plants found in the Shimba Hills National Reserve on the Kenyan coast. It treats 61 species of Meliolaceae and 14 species of Asterinaceae, distributed through 61 host genera within 29 families. Slightly more than 89% of the fungi included in this study are new to science. Forty-three species and 4 varieties of Meliolaceae are described as new, and there are 10 new species in the Asterinaceae. Two species of the genus Amazonia, A. colae and A. rubiacearum, and 1 of Asteridiella, A. goughiana, are new. The new genus Cryptomeliola is described for 2 species: C. orbicularis comb. nov. (type species) and the new species, C. moiana, from Kenya. Irenopsis keniensis and I. ximeniae are also described as new. The new species of Meliola include: M. alatae, M. allophylorum, M. borbonicae, M. bussei, M. bwaniana, M. capitati, M. castaneifoliae, M. chasaliae, M. darwiniana, M. dasiana, M. digoana, M. ellipanthi, M. erythrophloeicola, M. ferrugineae, M. fructicosae, M. hirtellae, M. hookeri, M. keniensis, M. leptactiniae, M. mombasana, M. monanthotaxiae, M. ngerechiana, M. obtissifoliae, M. oldenlandiicola, M. pachystellae, M. paraphialis, M. pentadis, M. petiolariicola, M. pinnatae, M. racemosae, M. rauvolfiae, M. rubiacearum, M. rubifolii, M. schlechterinae, M. shimbaensis, M. strychni, M. tinctoriae and M. verbenacearum. M. allophyli var. pervillei, M. jasmini var. floribundae and M. trichiliae var. emeticae are new varieties. M. crotonismacrostachydis is treated as a synonym of M. micropoda. Ten species of Asterinaceae are described as new: Asterina afzeliae, A. grandicarpa, A. monanthotaxiae, A. opiliae, A. paramacrolobii, A. shimbaensis, A. thylachii, Lembosia diospyrosi, L. sapotacearum and Lembosina dracaenae. New host records and records for Kenya are also given.