Loxocarpus pauzii (Gesneriaceae), new species from Peninsular Malaysia

© 2012 Nationaal Herbarium Nederland You are free to share - to copy, distribute and transmit the work, under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non-commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No derivative works: You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work, which can be found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/legalcode. Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author’s moral rights. Blumea 57, 2012: 134–135 www.ingentaconnect.com/content/nhn/blumea http://dx.doi.org/10.3767/000651912X657512 RESEARCH ARTICLE InTRoduCTIon A Loxocarpus R.Br. (Gesneriaceae) was discovered during a botanical expedition to the Gunung Tera area, Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia, in February 2007 (Chew et al. 2007). The plant was growing on the wet, dripping surface of a large granite boulder beside the Stong Waterfall. Although sterile, its leaves were so different from any known Loxocarpus species that living plants were collected and grown in the Kepong Botanic Garden nursery, Forest Research Institute Malaysia. On flowering, unique characters of its flower confirmed its status as a new species. Subsequently, flowering and fruiting material was collected from the wild. Based on a combination of its rosette habit, the indumentum of densely silvery hairs, and the short capsule, the new species is placed within Loxocarpus. The new species is distinct from all other Loxocarpus species by a combination of its thick fleshy leaves with long petioles, its slender much-branched, many-flowered inflorescences, its small flowers with a deeply divided, four-lobed pointed corolla, the vestigial nectary, and the style that projects well beyond the corolla mouth. Among Loxocarpus species, L. pauzii is most similar to L. semitortus (C.B.Clarke) Ridl., L. holttumii M.R.Hend., and L. stapfii (Kraenzl.) B.L.Burtt, that have broadly ovate laminas and long petioles (Banka & Kiew 2009) but L. pauzii is distinct from these species in having slender, lax, threeor four-times branched panicles bearing 11–42 flowers. Although Weber & Burtt (1998) included Loxocarpus as a synonym of Henckelia Spreng. (Gesneriaceae), molecular analyses (Weber et al. 2011) show that Loxocarpus species are distinct from Henckelia. Thus, this species is named in reinstated Loxocarpus. Loxocarpus pauzii T.L.Yao, sp. nov. — Fig. 1 Ab omnibus speciebus Loxocarpi in corolla profunde divisa 4-lobata (non 5-lobata) differt. — Typus: Yao et al. FRI 65371 (holo KEP; iso E, L), Peninsular Malaysia, Kelantan, Gunung Stong State Park, Stong Waterfall, 315 m alt., 05°20'N, 101°58'E, 26 July 2008. Etymology. This species is named after Pauzi Husin (1976–2011), a nature guide who first discovered it. Rosette plant. Rootstock short, woody, to 3 cm long, 5 mm diam, with wiry adventitious roots. Indumentum of stem and leaves silvery when dry, mainly of straight uniseriate, multicellular silky non-glandular hairs: on rootstock dense, 1–1.5 mm long, on the petiole very dense, 1–2 mm long, on the upper surface of the lamina dense, c. 0.85 mm long, on the veins of the lower surface of the lamina less dense, 0.4–0.85 mm long, on the lower surface of the lamina sparse, c. 0.3 mm long, on the bracts and bracteoles dense, 0.3 mm long; indumentum of inflorescences and flowers a mix of non-glandular and glandular hairs: on the peduncle with dense, non-glandular hairs c. 1 mm long and glandular hairs c. 0.25 mm long; on the pedicel, the outer surface of the calyx, corolla, and ovary with dense, glandular purple hairs c. 0.25 mm long, turning brown with age. Leaves alternate, crowded; petioles in life pale green, slender, the uppermost ones 2–3 cm long, the lowermost ones elongating to 5–11 cm long, terete, c. 1 mm diam; laminas in life dull dark green to greyish green above, paler beneath and concolourous with the petiole, suborbicular to reniform, 1.5–3 by 2–3 cm, c. 0.6 mm thick, base cordate to truncate, margin crenulate, apex acute in young leaves becoming rounded in fully expanded ones; secondary veins 4–5 pairs, sunken above, prominent beneath. Inflorescences axillary, many-flowered paniculate cymes up to 4-times branched with 11–42 flowers, young peduncle brownish red becoming purplish, slender, 14–18 cm long, to 2 mm thick; bract pair green, narrowly oblanceolate, c. 1.4 by 0.3 mm, apex rounded; bracteoles single or paired, green, narrowly oblanceolate, apex rounded, c. 0.6 by 0.2 mm, pedicels purple, 5–7 mm long. Flowers: calyx light green, 5-lobed, divided to the base, lobes c. 2 by 1 mm, surface of the inner lobe with three darker coloured veins; corolla plain lilac, tube very short, c. 2 mm long, limb deeply divided, lobes 4, darker toward the base, upper lobe deltoid, c. 3 by 3 mm, apex scarcely notched, lateral 2 lobes spreading, narrowly ovate, c. 4 by 2 mm, apex narrowly rounded, lower lobe longest, concave, margin incurved, c. 5 by 2.5 mm; stamens 2, positioned below the pistil, filaments curved, white tinged light green near base, pale lilac above, c. 2 mm long, bowed towards the lower corolla lobe; anthers connate face-to-face, bilobed, partly exposed in the corolla mouth, yellow, c. 1.3 by 0.5 mm; nectary a narrow, thin rim, partly encircling the ovary Loxocarpus pauzii (Gesneriaceae), a new species from Peninsular Malaysia T.L. Yao1, 2, R. Kiew1, N.W. Haron2 1 Forest Research Institute Malaysia, 52109 Kepong, Selangor, Malaysia; corresponding author e-mail: [email protected].my. 2 University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Key words Gesneriaceae Loxocarpus new species Peninsular Malaysia Abstract A new species of Loxocarpus (Gesneriaceae) from Gunung Stong, Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia, is described and illustrated. Published on 14 September 2012 135 T.L. Yao et al.: Loxocarpus pauzii from Peninsular Malaysia base; ovary conical, c. 1.5 by 0.7 mm, style lilac, c. 6 mm long, protruding beyond the corolla lobes, stigma minute, rounded, deep purple. Capsules dark brown, straight, slender, 4-angled, 7.5–8 by 0.8–0.9 mm; splitting open dorsally; calyx and style persistent. Seeds ellipsoid, 320–430 by 150–230 μm, apex acute, surface pattern reticulate. Distribution — Endemic in Peninsular Malaysia: Kelantan, Gunung Stong State Park, Stong Waterfall. Habitat — On shaded to partially shaded wet granite cliff faces or on boulders c. 500 m altitude or on soil with thin humus layer under bamboo clumps at c. 315 m altitude. Other specimens examined. Peninsular Malaysia, Kelantan, Gunung Stong State Park, Stong Waterfall, Pauzi FRI 65285 (KEP), FRI 65370 (KEP); Yao FRI 55876 (KEP). Note — All other Loxocarpus species have a 5-lobed corolla. The deeply divided 4-lobed corolla of this species is the result of fusion of the upper two lobes. Acknowledgements The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Malaysia is thanked for funding the fieldwork as part of Flora of Peninsular Malaysia Project (No. 01-04-01-000 Khas 2). This article is part of the study for the Master of Science degree at the University of Malaya. The first author would like to thank the Training Committee of the Forest Research Institute Malaysia for sponsoring his study and the Institute of Research Management and Monitoring, University of Malaya for the research grant (PS173-2008B). Help from H. Pauzi in collecting material is much appreciated. I thank the staff of Kepong Botanic Garden central nursery for taking care of the living specimen, to J. Beentje (K) and J.C.C. Pao for giving technical advice in preparing the botanical plate, and to J.F. Veldkamp (L) for translating the diagnostic into botanical Latin and some critical remarks. I am grateful to L.G. Saw (KEP) and R.C.K Chung (KEP) for their advice and comments on the manuscript. REfEREnCES Banka RA, Kiew R. 2009. Henkelia sect. Loxocarpus (Gesneriaceae) in Peninsular Malaysia. Edinburgh Journal of Botany 66: 1–23. Chew MY, Yao TL, Kamarudin S, Kiew R. 2007. Snapshot of the flora of Gunung Tera, Stong States Park, Kelantan. Conservation Malaysia 7: 3–6. Weber A, Burtt BL. 1998. Remodelling of Didymocarpus and associated genera. Beitrage zur Biologie der Pflanzen 70: 293–363. Weber A, Middleton D, Forrest A, Kiew R, Lim CL, Rafidah AR, Sontag S, Triboun P, Wei YG, Yao TL, Möller M. 2011. Molecular systematics and remodelling of Chirita and associated genera (Gesneriaceae). Taxon 60, 3: 767–790. fig. 1 Loxocarpus pauzii T.L.Yao. a. Habit; b. leaf lower surface; c. flower; d. capsule; e. seed; f. indumentum of leaf upper surface; g. indumentum of corolla outer surface; h. indumentum of ovary; i. trichome of petiole (all: Yao et al. FRI 65371, KEP). — Drawn by T.L. Yao. c b d a g h i e f 1 cm 1 mm 2 cm 4 mm 0.2 mm 0.5 mm 0.5 mm