Bergera alternifolia (Kurz) F.J.Mou, comb. nov.

urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77314667-1

Fig. 3

Limonia alternifolia Kurz, Bengal Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 42 (2): 64 (Kurz 1873). – L. alternans Wall. ex Voigt, Hortus Suburbanus Calcuttensis 139 (Voigt 1845), nom. inval. – L. alternans Wall. ex Hook., The Flora of British India 1 (pt. 3): 508 (Hooker 1875), nom. illeg. – L. alternans Wall. ex Kurz, Forest flora of British Burma 1: 192 (Kurz 1877). – Murraya alternans (Kurz) Swingle, Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 28 (12): 532 (Swingle 1938).

– Type: MYANMAR • Pegu; 24–26 Feb. 1871; S. Kurz 2010; holotype: CAL [CAL0000213357] image!; isotypes: CAL [CAL0000213351, CAL0000213352, CAL0000213353, CAL0000213354, CAL0000213355, CAL0000213356, CAL0000213358, CAL0000213359] images!. Designated here .

Etymology

The specific epithet refers to the leaves with alternate leaflets.

Description

Shrubs or small trees, 0.6–1.2 m tall; slender, simple or sparingly branched; deciduous. Twigs are slender, glabrous, with numerous shallow, longitudinal furrows and low ridges. Leaves are odd-pinnate, 11–15-foliolate, 10–25 cm long, and completely glabrous; rachis obviously winged; leaflets alternate, nearly sessile, oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate, 2.5–5.0 cm long, terminal much larger, somewhat unequalsided toward the cuneately narrowed base, slightly attenuate to a blunt tip, and margins slightly crenate above the middle. Cymes are axillary, appearing with the new leave, small, short-peduncled, glabrous. Flower buds are small, oblong or elliptical, 3–5 × 2–3 mm; flowers short-pedicellate, 5-merous; calyxes nearly flat, 5-lobed, lobes triangular, glabrous, 1.0– 1.5 mm long, 1.5–2.0 mm wide, and with numerous oil glands; petals white, 5, upright, linear, 5–7 mm long, tapering to a point, and with many oil glands in the upper half. Stamens are free; filaments 10, slightly swollen above, sparingly short-pilose, anthers small, oblong, 1.2–1.3 mm long. Disks are annular, as broad as ovary or broader, 1.8–2 mm wide, 0.5– 0.6 mm high. Pistils are glabrous, 4.5–5.5 mm long; ovaries borne on a long, slender, nearly cylindrical stipe, 0.8–1.0 mm long and 0.4–0.5 mm wide, and arising from flat top of the disk (said to elongate after flowering); ovaries obovoid, 1.8–2.0 mm high, 1.1–1.2 mm wide, and bluntly rounded or obcordate at top because of 2 large oil glands; locules 2, each with 2 ovules, and spendulous; styles slender, curved, subclavate, 2.2–2.6 mm long, 0.2–0.5 mm wide; stigmas thickened, at tip not clearly delimited. Fruits are ovoid, glabrous, short-stalked, ca 4 mm long. This species is described based merely on Swingle & Reece (1967) and some images of plants cultivated in Myanmar.

Phenology

Flowering in May, while fruiting from July to August.

Distribution and habitat

Myanmar: Pegu, Tenasserim (Mergui), Irrawaddy (Hinthada, Pathein, Bago); Yomah, the deltaic areas of Myanmar, not un-frequent in the upper mixed and occasionally in the moist forests of the Pegu Yoma, sporadical, but usually gregarious.

Remarks

The species is unique in the genus Bergera and differs from all other species in this genus by deciduous leaves, narrowly winged rachis, pubescent filaments, and the ovary borne on a slender, nearly cylindrical stipe, which looks like the gynophores found in Clausena (Swingle & Reece 1967) . A very strong smell comes out from the leaves of this species and is very similar to B. koenigii . It is thought that the fresh juice of this species’ leaves can neutralize the toxic action of snake venoms from cobra or viper (Aye et al. 2001; Min et al. 2004, 2007).