Cryptocarya ovoidea Munzinger & McPherson, 2021

Munzinger, Jérôme & McPHERSON, Gordon, 2021, Novitates neocaledonicae XII: Two additional new species of Cryptocarya R. Br. from New Caledonia, Adansonia (3) 43 (13), pp. 151-161 : 157-160

Cryptocarya ovoidea Munzinger & McPherson , sp. nov.

( Figs 5 ; 6 )

From Cryptocarya pluricostata Kosterm. , its sister species according to molecular data, C. ovoidea , sp. nov. differs in its short, sparse, whitish, cream-grey to blackish hairs, appressed toward the apex on bud and young twigs, quickly falling, versus the longer, dense, ferrugineous sublanate and subpersistent indument of C. pluricostata . As well, the secondary veins of C. ovoidea , sp. nov. remain concolorous on drying and the tertiaries are few, irregular and mostly areolate, whereas the secondaries of C. pluricostata turn obviously darker than the blade on drying, and its tertiary veins are numerous, regular and obviously oblique. Furthermore, the fruit of C. ovoidea , sp. nov. is ovoid, 22 mm long, 12 mm in diameter, smooth, and the perianth is caducous, in contrast to the fruit of C. pluricostata , which is ellipsoid, 18 mm long, 9 mm in diameter, and ribbed, and the perianth is persistent and up to 2 mm long.

TYPUS. — New Caledonia. Aoupinié , 21°11’34.18”S, 165°18’0.91”E, 640 m, 13.X.2008, fr., J. Munzinger, L. Barrabé, F. Rigault, A. Michel, V. Apiazari 5178 (holo-, NOU [ NOU049142 ]!).

PHENOLOGY. — Flowers have been collected in December and fruits in October.

ETYMOLOGY. — The specific epithet refers to the shape of the fruit.

HABITAT. — The species is restricted to the « forêts denses humides de basse et moyenne altitudes sur roches volcano-sédimentaires » sensu Jaffré et al. (2012), from 300 to 540 m.

DISTRIBUTION. — This tree is only known from the forests of Aoupinié in the north-east of the main-island ( Fig. 4 ).

CONSERVATION STATUS. — The plant is known from just two trees, both in the protected area “ Réserve de nature sauvage du massif de l’Aoupinié ”, in the North Province. EOO cannot be calculated, while AOO is 8 km². One of us (JM) participated in the establishment of 31 inventory plots (20 × 20 m; DBH≥5 cm) scattered over the Aoupinié massif, from base to summit, within the framework of the NC-PIPPN network ( Ibanez et al. 2014). These 31 plots included 4926 trees, of which 284 were Cryptocarya individuals, but none were identified as C. ovoidea , sp. nov. Thus, as there are fewer than 50 known mature individuals, we assign C. ovoidea , sp. nov. a preliminary status of “Critically Endangered” (CR) according to criterion D.

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL EXAMINED. — New Caledonia. Aoupinié, 21°11’34.18”S, 165°18’0.91”E, 640 m [same tree as Munzinger et al. 5178], 27.XII.2017, fl., Dabome 2 (NOU[NOU105563]); Aoupinié, Parcelle Pierric 2, 21°12’42”S, 165°17’14,8”E, 300 m, 8.IV.2014, st., Munzinger & Lowry 7216 (MPU[MPU026705]).

DESCRIPTION

Small tree, up to 8 m tall; diameter unknown; bark unknown; slash unknown. Terminal bud erect, acute, appressed-pubescent, hairs short, whitish, cream-grey to blackish, appressed toward the apex; young stems immediately glabrous, drying dark reddish black, older stems shallowly lenticellate in the lower leafy internodes, more densely lenticellate below the leafy portion of the stem, lenticels evident, up to 4 mm long and 1.5 mm wide, up to 0.5 mm high. Petioles slightly canaliculate (8-)10-11(-16) mm long, up to 25 mm on juvenile (Munzinger & Lowry 7216), diameter 0.7-1.1 mm., quickly glabrescent. Blades ovate-elliptic to elliptic, 6.5-11.8 × 2.5- 4.4 cm, base acute, often slightly attenuate, apex acute, usually slightly acuminate; midrib slightly sunken adaxially, raised abaxially; mature blades discolorous, often lustrous adaxially, matte and somewhat glaucous abaxially; secondary veins (3-)4-5, tertiaries few, irregular, areolate; fine venation reticulate, raised; the secondary and higher order venation concolorous with the blade; young abaxial surfaces sparsely and minutely appressed-pubescent.

Inflorescence axillary but subterminal, appearing while the branch is flushing, 9-30 mm long, axis ca. 1 mm in diameter, minutely appressed-pubescent; bracts caducous. Flowers subsessile (pedicel up to 0.5 mm), yellowish, 3.5-4 mm long, 2.5-3 mm diam.; hypanthium 1.5-2 mm long, 2.5 mm in diameter distally, minutely appressed-pubescent abaxially, glabrous adaxially; tepals subequal, 1.5 mm long, concave, obtuse, pubescent on both surfaces; stamens in 3 whorls, those of whorl I introrse, 1 mm long, filaments 0.5 mm, anthers 0.5 mm long, 0.6 mm wide, pubescent abaxially (more visible on dry), glabrescent adaxially, those of whorl II introrse, slightly shorter, filaments 0.3 mm, anthers 0.5 mm long, 0.6 mm wide, glabrous adaxially and abaxially, those of whorl III extrorse, 1.2 mm long, anthers ovate, 0.7 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, glabrous adaxially and abaxially; glands positioned between whorls II and III, without any apparent attachment to the base of the filaments of whorl III, subglobose, c. 0.5 mm diameter, borne on a pubescent stalk 0.15 mm long; staminodes widely triangular, 0.75 mm long × 0.5 wide, thinly pubescent abaxially, sometimes with a tuft of hairs at summit, glabrous adaxially; gynoecium immersed in the tube, 2.7 mm long, 0.8 mm in diameter, style glabrous, the ovary gradually merging into the style with small discoid stigma. Fruit ovoid, 12 mm wide, 22 mm high, black when ripe (in vivo), calyx caducous, with a few slight longitudinal lines on drying. Cross-section colour unknown.

NOTE

The species looks quite similar to Cryptocarya pluricostata in the field ( Fig. 7 ), and may have been confused with it and thus might be under-collected. After we had found the distinctive fruit of the type collection, we paid close attention to similar trees, and were confident that Munzinger & Lowry 7216, even though sterile, was the same new species. This latter collection was then sequenced (C. Gemmill pers. comm.) and confirmed to be the same taxon, with both accessions appearing in a sister position to C. pluricostata .

Figures

FIG. 5. — Cryptocara ovoidea Munzinger & McPherson, sp. nov.: A, fruiting branch; B, fruit; C, terminal vegetative bud; D, detail of venation; E, leaf; F, flower; G, longitudinal section of flower; H, exterior tepal and stamen of whorl I; I, interior tepal and stamen of whorl II; J, flower with two tepals removed; K, stamen of whorl III; L, gland; M, staminode, adaxial side; A-E, Munzinger et al. 5178; F-M, Dabome 2. Drawings: Laurence Ramon. Scale bars: A, 2 cm; B, E, 1 cm; C, H, I, K-M 1 mm; D, 5 mm; F, G, J, 2 mm.

FIG. 6. — Cryptocara ovoidea Munzinger & McPherson, sp. nov.: A, habit; B, leaf abaxial surface. Photos: Jérôme Munzinger.

FIG. 4. — Comparison of general aspect, angle of leaf presentation, and lenticels aspect between C. aristata (to the left in A and B, to the right in C) and C. conduplicata Munzinger & McPherson, sp. nov. (Munzinger et al. 6545, to the right in A and B, to the left C). Photographs: A, J. Munzinger; B, C, P. Lowry.

FIG. 7. — Leaves of four species of Cryptocarya R.Br. observed the same day on Aoupinié (left to right), C. elliptica Schltr., C. longifolia Kosterm., C. pluricostata Kosterm. and C. ovoidea Munzinger & McPherson, sp. nov. Photo: Jérôme Munzinger.