KEW BULLETIN VOL. 67: 1 Y 8 (2012)
ISSN: 0075-5974 (print) ISSN: 1874-933X (electronic)
Elaeocarpus hylobroma (Elaeocarpaceae): a new species endemic to mountain tops in north-east Queensland, Australia Y. Baba1 & D. Crayn1 Summary. Elaeocarpus hylobroma Y. Baba & Crayn, a new species endemic to mountaintops in the Wet Tropics bioregion in north-east Queensland, is described, illustrated and compared with similar species. Notes on habitat, distribution, conservation status and relationships are provided. Key Words. Australian flora, taxonomy.
Introduction The family Elaeocarpaceae Juss. (including Tremandraceae R. Br. ex DC.) consists of 12 genera of mainly trees and shrubs (Coode 2004; Crayn et al. 2006). The family is widely distributed in the tropics extending into the sub tropics and temperate zone in almost all the continents, absent only from continental Africa and North America. There is a centre of diversity in Australia where nine genera are found, four of these being endemic: Peripentadenia L. S. Sm, Platytheca Steetz, Tetratheca Sm. and Tremandra R. Br. ex DC. Elaeocarpus L. is the largest genus in the family and is distributed from southern India along the Himalayas to South China, Japan, SE Asia, Malesia, Australia, New Zealand, islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and Madagascar. Approximately 350 species are known worldwide (Coode 2004) with 34 taxa (CHAH 2011) occurring in Australia (30 endemic) including five phrase name taxa (Guymer 1997, 2007, 2010; Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research 2010). The majority of the taxa are found along the east coast and ranges with a few extending north-west to the Northern Territory. Infrageneric classifications of Elaeocarpus have been based on floral and fruit morphology (Weibel 1968; Coode 1978, 1984; Zmarzty 2001). Features used to diagnose infrageneric groups include the number of petal divisions, anther morphology, ovary indumentum, numbers of locules and ovules, stone (equivalent to putamen, comprising a woody inner mesocarp containing endocarps sensu Dettmann & Clifford (2001)) ornamentation, and seed and embryo morphology. In a revision of Australian and New
Zealand Elaeocarpus, Coode (1984) divided the then recognised 26 species among eight groups based on a scheme previously developed for Papuasian taxa (Coode 1978). Here we describe a new species endemic to mountaintops in the Wet Tropics bioregion of northeastern Queensland, Australia. Material of this species was first collected by C. T. White in Sept. 1936 (White, C.T. s.n.) from Mt Spurgeon, and Coode (1984) listed this entity as ‘E. sp. nov. 1’ and subsequently it has most often been treated under E. sp. Mossman Bluff (D. G. Fell 1666). Despite this novelty having long been recognised, sufficient fertile material to enable its description and an assessment of its affinities has only recently become available. All cited specimens have been seen by the first author.
Materials and methods This study was based upon morphological observations on herbarium sheets and spirit material from CNS and BRI, and field observations by the first author. Where available, spirit materials were used in preference to dried. Characters used in the taxonomic account were as parallel as possible to those used in the revision of Australia and New Zealand (Coode 1984). Dried flowers were rehydrated in diluted detergent and softened in a microwave oven. Rehydrated flower parts e.g. sepals, petals and stamens, were measured by removing them from the flower, imaging on 1 mm grid paper using a USB digital MicroCapture version 2.0 (publisher unknown), and viewing on a computer screen. Fruit measurements were taken from spirit material sectioned with a
Accepted for publication 27 June 2012. 1 Australian Tropical Herbarium, James Cook University Cairns Campus, McGregor Road, Smithfield, Queensland 4878, Australia. e-mail:
[email protected]
© The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2012
KEW BULLETIN VOL. 67(4)
hacksaw (16 teeth/cm). In the ‘Specimens Examined’ section the abbreviation LA refers to Logging Area, SFR refers to State Forest Reserve, and TR refers to Timber Reserve.
Taxonomy Elaeocarpus hylobroma Y. Baba & Crayn, sp. nov. Type: Australia, Queensland, Dinden Forest Reserve, Kahlpahlim Rock area near tower, E of Mareeba. [Lamb Range, Dinden National Park], 1290 m, 12 Nov. 2004, Ford, Jensen & Cooper 4483 (holotype CNS!; isotypes to be distributed to BO!, BRI!, CANB!, E!, K!, KEP!, KYO!, L!, LAE!, MEL!, MO!, NSW!, P!). http://www.ipni.org/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77121630-1 Elaeocarpus sp. nov. 1 (Coode 1984: 582). Elaeocarpus sp. (= KS/6) (Hyland & Whiffin 1993). Elaeocarpus sp. Mossman Bluff (D. G. Fell 1666) (Guymer 1997, 2002; Hyland et al. 2003; Guymer 2007, 2010; Center for Australian National Biodiversity Research 2010). Elaeocarpus sp. (Mossman Bluff) (Cooper & Cooper 2004). Elaeocarpus sp. ‘Mossman Bluff’ (Crayn & Kupsch 2006). Elaeocarpus sp. MB (Rossetto et al. 2009). Small tree to 18 m tall, usually very poorly formed, coppicing, adventitious roots pinkish red with yellow tips. Branchlets pinkish red, shortly pubescent (hairs 0.1 mm) appressed hairs; stipules black, narrow triangular, 0.5 – 1.3 mm long, pubescent (hairs >0.1 mm) at base, caducous. Leaves clustered towards branch tips, petioles pinkish red, gradually turning green, often leaving only pulvinae red, both surfaces pubescent (hairs >0.1 mm) when young, glabrescent, 5 – 19 mm long, often with pulvinae at both ends, straight; leaf blade glossy green adaxially, paler green abaxially, elliptic, narrow-elliptic to oblong, 37 – 106 (– 112) × 10 – 30 (– 37) mm, both surfaces glabrous except pubescent (hairs >0.5 mm) on midrib, apex acute to acuminate and minutely emarginate with a very short black tooth on abaxial side; base attenuate-cuneate; margin serrate in upper ½ to ⅓ (rarely ⅔), serrations 2 – 6 each terminated by a minute black tooth associated with a vein ending, slightly recurved, often undulate; secondary veins (3 –) 4 – 8 pairs angled 45 – 65° to midrib; domatia present in secondary vein axils, pocket-shaped, glabrous inside, 2 – 8 (– 10) per leaf, rarely absent. Inflorescences racemose, borne amongst and below leaves; rachis (8 –) 18 – 51 mm long, pale green, sparsely hairy (c. 0.1 mm); pedicels 2.4 – 5 mm in flower elongating to 4.5 – 7 mm in fruit; flowers (3 –) 5 – 20 per inflorescence; bracts one per flower, caducous, deltoid, once toothed, ciliate, © The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2012
0.7 – 1.5 mm long. Buds cream with pinkish tinge, ellipsoid to ovoid, apex conical, pubescent (>0.1 mm). Flowers 5-merous, cupiform; sepals cream to white sometimes with slightly pinkish tinge abaxially, deltoid, 2.5 – 3 × c. 1 mm, slightly keeled in the lower half, apex abruptly incurved and bearing a tuft of minute hairs (
