Impatiens letouzeyi
– Endangered
Taxonomy
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Kingdom:
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PLANTAE
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Phylum:
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TRACHEOPHYTA
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Class:
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MAGNOLIOPSIDA
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Order:
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GERANIALES
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Family:
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BALSAMINACEAE
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Scientific Name:
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Impatiens letouzeyi
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Species Authority:
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Grey-Wilson
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Assessment Information
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Red List Category & Criteria:
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EN B2ab(iii) ver 3.1 (2001)
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Year Assessed:
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2004
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Assessor/s:
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Cheek, M.
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Evaluator/s:
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Hilton-Taylor, C. & Pollock, C.M. (Red List Programme Office)
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Justification:
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Described in 1981 from a single specimen in western Bakossi collected in the 1970s, it was rediscovered by an Earthwatch team led by George Gosline in 1998 and subsequently found to be fairly common in the Kodmin-Edip area. At the end of the wet season plants are readily spotted by their fallen flowers below their phorophytes. This plant has not been found on Mt Kupe despite searches in all months over several years. A planned reservoir and the subsequent opening up of the area may impact this species.
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Geographic Range
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Range Description:
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Cameroon: Bakossi Mts (5 coll. from 4 sites).
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Countries:
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Native:
Cameroon
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Habitat and Ecology
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Habitat and Ecology:
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This robust, epiphytic herb has the largest flowers of all Cameroonian, and perhaps African, Impatiens. Occurs as an epiphyte in crowns of trees 4–6 cm from ground, in shrubs over streams or it can be terrestrial, on lakeside Sphagnum blanket, 1,200–1,350 m alt.
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System:
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Terrestrial
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List of Habitats:
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| 1.6 | Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland |
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Threats
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Threats:
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The planned reservoir scheme near Kodmin may threaten part of the population of this species.
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List of Threats:
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| 1.4.6 | Habitat Loss/Degradation - Infrastructure development - Dams (future) |
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Conservation Actions
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Conservation Actions:
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A detailed study of this species at Kodmin-Edip would provide more precise data on population density and demography, as well as assisting in the placement of future development schemes. Botanical surveys in other parts of the Bakossi Mts, or Rumpi Hills, might yet discover more sites which would reduce the threat assessment of this taxon.
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