A new species and new combinations in Cryptocarya from Madagascar
Author
Werff, Henk Van Der
text
Adansonia
2008
3
30
1
41
46
journal article
http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4601931
1639-4798
4601931
Cryptocarya glabriflora
Van der Werff
,
sp. nov.
(
Fig. 1
) Cryptocaryae alseodaphnifoliae
affinis, sed foliis obovatis, coriaceis, subtus glandulo-punctatis, inflorescentiis majoribus, ad
9 cm
longis recedit
.
TYPUS
. —
Madagascar
.
Toamasina
,
Vatomandry
,
Commune Ambalabe
,
W
of
Sahamahirana
stream,
19°09’33’’S
,
48°34’40’’E
,
21.XI.2004
,
A
.
Randrianasolo
,
R
.
Ranaivojaona
&
A
.
Razanatsima
902
(holo-,
TAN
; iso-,
G
,
MO
,
P
,
US
)
.
DESCRIPTION
Tree, to
30 m
.
Twigs angular or terete, glabrous, terminal buds densely and minutely puberulous. Leaves alternate, obovate to obovate-elliptic, 6-11 ×
3-6 cm
, glabrous, stiffly coriaceous, the base acute, rarely obtuse, margin flat, the apex rounded, the lower surface minutely but densely gland-dotted, lateral veins 4-6 on each side, reticulation raised on both surfaces, petioles glabrous,
9-14 mm
long. Inflorescences
3.5-9 cm
long, paniculate, branched from the base, glabrous; bracts along inflorescences mostly deciduous,
1.5 mm
long, linear, pubescent. Flowers yellow-green, externally glabrous, tepals initially half-erect, in old flowers spreading, flowers
4-5 mm
in diameter; pedicels short, from half the length of the floral tube to equaling it; tepals 6, equal, narrowly ovate,
1.5-2 mm
long, glabrous outside, puberulous inside; stamens 9, all 2-celled, pubescent,
c.
1 mm
long, the filament very short,
0.1-0.2 mm
, the anther cells large, the connectives slightly prolonged beyond the anther cells; stamens with the same length and width as the tepals and hidden behind them; 2 small globose glands present at the base of the inner three stamens; staminodia small, narrowly ovate, pubescent; pistil glabrous, the style to
1 mm
exserted, receptacle tubular, pubescent near the rim, otherwise glabrous. Fruits unknown.
REMARKS
Only two species of
Cryptocarya
from
Madagascar
(including those previously placed
Ravensara
) have the combination of glabrous twigs and leaves and raised reticulation on both surfaces of the leaves. Of these two,
Ravensara macrophylla
Kosterm.
, only known from the fruiting
type
, differs in leaf shape (elliptic) and size (
16-20 cm
long). The other species,
C. alseodaphnifolia
Kosterm.
, is known only from the flowering
type
collection. Like
C. glabriflora
, it has glabrous flowers, a feature unknown in other members of the genus on
Madagascar
(although flowers are unknown in 13 species, their
types
having fruits only).
Cryptocarya glabriflora
differs in having stiffly coriaceous leaves (chartaceous in
C. alseodaphnifolia
, although
Kostermans (1957)
described them as coriaceous), leaves that are obovate to obovate-elliptic (elliptic to broadly elliptic in
C. alseodaphnifolia
), and densely and minutely gland-dotted on the lower surface (without gland-dots in
C. alseodaphnifolia
), and the inflorescences are
3.5 to 9 cm
long (
1-3 cm
in
C. alseodaphnifolia
according to
Kostermans (1957)
although the isotype I have seen did not have inflorescences longer than
1.5 cm
).
Cryptocarya glabriflora
is only known from the
type
collection, made in primary forest near Ambalabe, at mid-elevation on the east coast of central
Madagascar
.