Lectotypification of Raphia sudanica A. Chev. (Arecaceae, Calamoideae), with notes on its biology and conservation.

During a botanical survey undertaken in Western Africa in 1905, Auguste Chevalier (1873–1956) collected a new palm species that he described and published in 1908 under the name of Raphia sudanica A. Chev. Two specimens are cited in the protologue, but the herbarium where they were deposited was not indicated. Research in the herbarium of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris (P), in France enabled us to locate the two specimens. Neither of them was designated as holotype and a lectotypification is required for a better definition of the taxon; this lectotypification is proposed in this study. The morphological description, distribution, ecology and socio-economic importance of the species are also provided.