Benstonea celebica ( Warburg 1900: 80 ) Callmander & Buerki

Callmander, Martin W., Buerki, Sven, Keim, Ary P. & Phillipson, Peter B., 2014, Notes on Benstonea (Pandanaceae) from the islands of Halmahera, New Guinea and Sulawesi, Phytotaxa 175 (3), pp. 161-165 : 162-163

Benstonea celebica ( Warburg 1900: 80) Callmander & Buerki in Callmander & al. (2012: 332) .

Basionym: Pandanus celebicus Warburg (1900: 80) . Type:— INDONESIA. Sulawesi : s.d., Warburg s.n. (holotype, B [ B100279969 ] image seen; isotype, FI [ FI 003942]!). Epitype (designated here):— INDONESIA. Central Sulawesi Province: Sulawesi , Mt Roroka Timbu , W slope, 80 km SSE of Palu, 1°16’S, 120°18’E, c. 1050 m, 11.V.1979, Vogel 5287 (epitype, L [ L0332713 ] image seen; isoepitype, KLU-36404 [2 sheets] images seen, PH [ PH 00018268]!) .

Syn.: Pandanus gladiator Stone (1984: 209) . Type:— INDONESIA. Central Sulawesi Province: Sulawesi , Mt Roroka Timbu , W slope, 80 km SSE of Palu, 1°16’S, 120°18’E, c. 1050 m, 11.V.1979, Vogel 5287 (holotype, L [ L0332713 ] image seen; isotype, KLU-36404 [2 sheets] images seen, PH [ PH 00018268]!) .

Notes:— Benstonea celebica was regarded as an enigmatic species before its rediscovery by AK in 2005 (Keim 558) in Sulawesi at Pontolotua Hill during a survey of the Lore-Lindu National Park ( Keim, 2005). The delimitation of this taxon has remained challenging for a century due to the very fragmentary material of the type (Warburg s.n.). The fruiting material deposited at B was apparently destroyed during World War II, but a photograph exists at FI. Stone (1978) has even suggested that B. celebica and B. pachyphylla ( Merrill 1922: 154) Callmander & al. (2012: 337) may be conspecific. Benstonea celebica is in reality very different from B. pachyphylla , which is a slender acaulescent shrub bearing a small syncarp with a small infrafoliar near-ground solitary syncarp (see Keim & al. 2011: 52, Fig. 12; Callmander & al. 2012: 331, Fig. 4D). Benstonea celebica is a tree up to 5 m with a large spicate pendulous infructescence comprising up to 10 subspherical syncarps (c. 10–11 cm in diam) ( Fig. 1G ). In the absence of adequate material of B. celebica and apparently unaware of the presence of the photograph at FI, Stone (1984) was evidently oblivious to its highly distinctive morphology, and he described Pandanus gladiator Stone (1984: 209) based on a specimen collected from the same island, Sulawesi, Vogel 5287. The latter species was erroneously considered to be a synonym of Benstonea stenocarpa by Callmander & al. (2012) and this error is corrected here. Original material of B. celebica comprises only Warburg’s type gathering from Sulawesi, which is highly fragmentary - consisting now of only of two incomplete leaf portions (at B and FI). The only known syncarp of this collection is believed to have been destroyed (at B), although fortunately a photograph is conserved at FI. Vogel 5287 (the type of Pandanus gladiator ) is an excellent fertile collection from Central Sulawesi with duplicates in L, KLU and PH, each with leaves and representative portions of the infructescence. We consider this specimen to represent the same species as the type of B. celebica , and we therefore designate it as an epitype for the species. Benstonea celebica has also been collected recently elsewhere on Sulawesi: Central Sulawesi Province, Pontolotua Hill and Sedoa in the vicinity of the Lore-Lindu National Park ( Keim, 2005; Keim & Rustiami, 2007) and in Northern Sulawesi Province, Ambang Hill in the vicinity of Boganinani Wartabone National Park and Bolaang Mongondow, Minahassa ( Polosakan & al. 2009; Purwanto & al. 2009) and is considered to be endemic to the island.

Additional specimens seen: — INDONESIA. Central Sulawesi Province: Sulawesi, Toro, Pono (Pontolotua) Hill , 900 m, 31 May 2005, Keim 558 ( WAL); Poso, Sedoa, Siboala Hill, 11 September 2005, Keim 683 ( BO) . North Sulawesi Province: Sulawesi, Mount Ambang Nature Reserve, near Kotulidak River, 00°47’29”N, 124°22’39”E, 23 November 2009, Kinho 267 ( WAL); Bolaang Mongondow , Kolangkangon , around Ambang mountain , Modayag , 00°44’45”N, 124°26’07”E, 1271 m, 27 March 2006, Purwanto & al. PSU42 ( BO) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. A–D. Benstonea verruculosa. E–G. Benstonea stenocarpa. H. Benstonea celebica. A, E. Axillary syncarp. B. Peduncle covered by prophylls. C, D, F. Details of pileus and stigmas. G. Habit. H. Polysyncarpic pending infructescence. A–C: From Callmander & Lasut 1551 (Photos: M. Callmander). F: Munzinger & Bau 6745 (Photo: J. Munzinger). E, G. Bau s.n. (Photos: B. Bau). H. Purwanto & al. PSU42 (Photo: Y. Purwanto & R. Polosakan).