Codonoboea sallehuddiniana C.L.Lim, 2019

Kiew, Ruth & Lim, Chung-Lu, 2019, Codonoboea (Gesneriaceae) in Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia, including three new species, PhytoKeys 131, pp. 1-26 : 10-13

Codonoboea sallehuddiniana C.L.Lim sp. nov. Figures 5 , 6

Diagnosis.

In its habit (stem unbranched, woody, 10-25 cm long, 3-6 mm thick) and its petiolate, narrowly lanceolate or slightly oblanceolate lamina 9-20 cm long with many, deeply impressed veins and a serrate margin with teeth 3-5 × 1.2-2 mm, Codonoboea sallehuddiniana resembles C. breviflora (Ridl.) Kiew but it is different in its dichasium with two short branches and flowers in pairs ( C. breviflora has a one-flowered inflorescence), its large foliose bracts 11-12 mm long (not linear and 5-10 mm long), its rosy purple, narrow corolla 15-16 mm long (not shorter, campanulate, pale purple to white corolla and 10-14 mm long) and shorter fruits 3-3.5 cm long (not 3-5.5 cm long).

Type.

Peninsular Malaysia. Terengganu, Dungun, Pasir Raja Forest Reserve, Compartment 5, 4°41.62'N, 102°58.35'E, 28 June 2011 Yao, T.L. & Azril, A. FRI 65593 (holotype KEP, barcode KEP210589; iso: E, SING).

Description.

Erect, unbranched herb. Stem woody, 15 –20(– 60) cm tall, 3-6 mm diameter. Indumentum of long ferruginous hairs, on stem and petioles dense and glossy, hairs to 1.5 mm long, grooved midrib on upper lamina surface densely hairy, beneath midrib and veins hairy, denser with hairs to 1.5 mm long on the midrib. Leaves at the top of the stem, opposite, pairs equal, to 1.5 cm apart; petioles 1.5-3.5 cm long; lamina lanceolate, glabrous above, 9-17.5 × 4-7 cm, in life bullate, glossy green above, yellowish-green near petiole, pale green beneath, drying reddish-brown, margin glabrous, serrate, teeth falcate, 3-5 × 1.5-2 mm long, apex acute; midrib and veins in life impressed above, prominent beneath; lateral veins 15-24 pairs, glabrous above, a fine vein reaching between every third sinus between the teeth. Inflorescence erect, from the upper leaf axils, a pair-flowered dichasium with 2 short equal branches, each with 5-10 pairs of flowers; peduncle slender, maroon or dark purple, 11-16.3 cm long, hairy, hairs to ca. 2 mm long, branches 2-5.5 cm long; bract pair at first purple, then semi-transparent pale green, persistent, sparsely hairy outside, glabrous inside, foliose, 3-veined, lanceolate, 11-12 × 3-4 mm decreasing in size towards the apex, margin distantly serrate; pedicels dark purple, ca. 2 mm long, hairy. Flowers held more-or-less horizontally or slightly pendent; calyx dark purple, ca. 3 mm long, densely hairy outside, hairs glandular to 1 mm long, glabrous inside, 5-lobed divided almost to the base; corolla narrowly tubular, 15-17 mm long, 1.5-2 mm diameter at base, slightly dilating and 4-6 mm diameter at the mouth, tube deep rosy purple, whitish towards the mouth with fine deep purple veins that show through in the white throat, minutely hairy outside and on the lower part of floor of throat with two raised yellowish nectar guides running into the mouth and densely covered in glistening hairs, lobes 5, whitish-cream or sometimes green with purple stripe, upper two lobes rounded, 1.5-2.5 × 1-3 mm, reflexed; lower three ca. 2.5-4 × 2-3.5 mm long, spreading, slightly reflexed at tip; stamens 2, filaments slender, ca. 4-5 mm long, glabrous, anthers white, broadly sagittate, 1.5 mm, cohering face-to-face, positioned just inside the corolla tube; nectary annular, ca. 0.7 mm high; ovary and style with densely hairy, ovary violet, ca. 4 mm long, style sparsely minutely pubescent, ca. 3.5 mm long and stigma capitate, white, ca. 0.1 mm long. Fruits extremely slender, cylindric, 3-3.5 cm long, ca. 0.7-1 mm diameter, glabrescent, dehiscing along the upper suture; pedicel to 7 mm long.

Distribution.

Endemic in Dungun District (Jerangau FR, Pasir Raja FR and Sungai Loh), Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia.

Ecology.

Lowland dipterocarp forest, on shaded slopes or top of banks beside old logging road, at 15-50 m altitude.

Etymology.

Named for Dato’ Sri Dr Sallehuddin bin Ishak, formerly Federal Lands Commissioner of Malaysia, for his strong support of conservation of karst limestone hills in Perak.

Other specimens examined.

Terengganu, Dungun, Jerangau Forest Reserve, Kamarul, M. et al. FRI 67177 (KEP); Ong, P.T. & Rafidah, A.R. FRI 71249 (KEP); Dungun, Sungai Loh, Sam, Y.Y. & Markandan, M. FRI 44400 (KEP), from Sungai Loh cultivated in Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Sam, Y.Y. FRI 47049 (KEP).

Notes.

The inflorescence of Codonoboea sallehuddiniana is unusual for the genus. The basic inflorescence in Codonoboea is a pair-flowered cyme that may be reduced to a single flower (as in C. breviflora ) or be branched once (a dichasial pair-flowered cyme) or many times to form a thyrse. In C. sallehuddiniana , the dichasium has two short branches and, on these, are pairs of short-stalked flowers each subtended by a large foliose bract that decreases in size towards the apex. The flowers are all positioned in the same direction. The particularly long, narrow corolla tube that scarcely dilates and has prominent hairs in the mouth is unusual in Codonoboea .

Figures

Figure 5. Codonoboea sallehuddiniana C. L. Lim, sp. nov. A habit B Inflorescence. (Photographs by Ong Poh Teck).

Figure 6. Codonoboea sallehuddiniana C. L. Lim, sp. nov. A front view of flower B Infructescences. (Photographs A by Ong Poh Teck; B by C. L. Lim).