Diospyros fecunda H.R.Fletcher

Meeprom, Nattanon, Duangjai, Sutee, Utteridge, Timothy M. A., Culham, Alastair & Puglisi, Carmen, 2024, Notes on South-East Asian Diospyros L. (Ebenaceae, Ericales): commonly misidentified species in mainland South-East Asia, European Journal of Taxonomy 932, pp. 225-251 : 245-247

Diospyros fecunda H.R.Fletcher

Figs 7G–H , 9

Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Gardens,Kew)1937(7): 387 ( Fletcher 1937).

– Type: THAILAND • Siam, Pattani, Yala, Betong ; 26 Aug. 1923; Kerr 7658; lectotype: K [ K000792545 ]!, here designated; isolectotypes: BM [ BM00084634 ]!, E [ E00318461 ]!, K [ K000792546 , K000792547 , K000792548 , Carpological Collection]!).

– Notes: Fletcher (1937) cited Kerr 7658 as the only gathering accompanying the original description of D. fecunda . Specimens have been located at BM, E and K, and all are well preserved. Four sheets in K were annotated as ‘type’ while the other sheets in BM, E and K were either unannotated or annotated as ‘co-type’ in H.R. Fletcher’s handwriting. Among those sheets in K, we select the most complete specimen (K000792545) with fruit attaching on a twig as the lectotype.

Fletcher (1938: 369).

Diospyros borneensis [non Hiern], sensu auctorum: Phengklai (1978: 72; 1981: 359); Gardner et al. (2015: 489, 688).

Description

Tree, 7–20 m tall. Twigs glabrous. Bark brown, shallowly fissured, inner bark brown, sapwood whitish yellow. Leaves elliptic, 8–15 × 3.5–6 cm, base attenuate, slightly decurrent, apex acuminate or subcaudate with obtuse tip, blade glabrous on both sides; lateral veins 6–9 on each side, arched near the margin but not directly anastomosing, tertiary veins reticulate or irregularly scalariform; petiole slender, 0.5–1 cm long, glabrous. Male inflorescences ramiflorous in short fascicle. Calyx green, tubular-campanulate; lobes 4, shortly divided, semicircular. Corolla creamy white, salverform; lobes 4, divided ± halfway to the base, oblong, curved outward. Female flowers not seen. Fruits solitary, green, turning black when dried, broadly ovoid, 3–4 × 3–4 cm, usually slightly wider than long, subglabrous, usually hairy near the base with yellowish hairs, pericarp smooth, shallowly lobed or longitudinally splitting near the base when dried; fruit stalk very short (subsessile) to ca 0.5 cm long, stout. Fruiting calyx slightly accrescent, 1–1.5 cm in diam.; lobes 3–7, irregularly divided when mature, spreading or reflexed, glabrescent outside, rather densely hairy inside. Seeds (8–)12–16, flat, asymmetrically elliptic, 1.5–2.5 × 0.7–1 cm; endosperm smooth.

Distribution

THAILAND • Phatthalung [Sinbumrong 355 ( BKF)], Songkhla [Niyomdham 3065 ( BKF)], Yala [Kerr 7658 ( BM, E, K); Middleton 2950 ( BKF)]. Specimens of this species have been rarely collected. It is found in the very southernmost tip of Thailand and may also occur in Peninsular Malaysia.

Ecology

Diospyros fecunda is endemic to Thailand and found in evergreen forest at 400–650 m elevations.

Figures

Fig. 7. A–C. Diospyros dictyoneura Hiern. A. Corolla and stamen of male flower (Beccari 2615 K[K000792678]). B. Female flower (Galao S15705 K[K001423314]). C. Fruits (Bernstein 179 K[without barcode]). D–F. D. hasseltii Zoll. D. Male flower with front calyx lobe removed (Smitinand 46521 K[K001361167]). E. Female inflorescences. F. Fruits. G–H. D. fecunda H.R.Fletcher. G. Male inflorescence; H. Fruit. Photographed by N. Meeprom and S. Duangjai.

Fig. 9. Lectotype of D. fecunda H.R.Fletcher (Kerr 7658 K[K000792545]) (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 2022).