Xylopia vieillardii Baill.

Johnson, David M., Munzinger, Jérôme, Peterson, Julie A. & Murray, Nancy A., 2013, Taxonomy and biogeography of the New Caledonian species of Xylopia L. (Annonaceae), Adansonia (3) 35 (2), pp. 207-226 : 214-217

2. Xylopia vieillardii Baill.

( Figs 1 C-H; 3)

Adansonia 8: 202 (1868). — Type: “Novae-Caledoniae montium declivitatibus ubi haud procul a Balade”, 1861-1867 (fr), Vieillard 95 (holo-, P[P00507322]!; iso-, P[P00507330, P00507321]!); a fourth sheet at P [ex Institut Botanique de Caen, P00507329] sterile and without a collection number, is probably an additional isotype).

DISTRIBUTION AND PHENOLOGY. — Xylopia vieillardii occurs widely over the island at elevations of 50-750 meters, most commonly between 150 and 500 meters, in moist forests over metamorphic rocks, usually schist.Most of the collections come from the non-ultramafic basement terranes. Only in the southern part of the island does it occur on ultramafic sites, and there only at the bases of slopes where there is accumulation of nutrients washed down by rain from higher up. Specimens with flowers have been collected from October through February, while those with fruits have been gathered in January, February, April, August, November, and December. The seeds are grayish green in vivo, the exposed endocarp reddish-pink to dark purple. One of the authors has observed the Red-Crowned Parakeet ( Cyanoramphus saisseti ) feeding on the fruits of X. vieillardii . In general, parrots and parakeets are seed predators (see e.g., Villaseñor-Sánchez et al. 2010); seed dispersal by this bird species would probably be accidental. CONSERVATION STATUS. — Xylopia vieillardii shows an EOO of 8382 km 2 and an AOO of 261 km 2 comprising 18 sub-populations, with five included in protected areas: Aoupinié Special Fauna Reserve, Parc des Grandes Fougères, Thy, Chutes de la Madeleine, Forêt Nord. The plant is abundant in these localities. Xylopia vieillardii is assigned a preliminary status of Least Concern.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — New Caledonia. ESE of Goa (WSW de Ponérihouen ), 21°07’S, 165°20’E, 370 m, 30.XI.1977, Bamps 5869 (BM, BR, L). — Vallée de l’Amoa, St. Thomas, 20°58’S, 165°14’E, 1.XII.1977, Bamps 5881 (BM, BR) . — Col d’Amieu , Barrabé et al. 273 ( NOU) . — Forêt Plate , ad orientem versus montem Katépouenda, 21°08’- 21°09’S, 165°07’- 165°08’E, 600-750 m, 14.VIII.1965, Bernardi 10183 (P[P00507346]). — Thy House Platform, 200 m, 13.II.1981, Brinon 1130 ( NOU) . — Basse vallée de la Thí , 9.XI.1950, Guillaumin 8011 (A). — Poami, 20°44’36.16”S, 164°46’22.91E, 7.II.2011, Hequet et al. 3909 ( NOU) . — Ponandou , 27.I.1987, Jaffré 2851 ( NOU) . — Route de l’Hermitage , 200-300 m, 1.I.1956, MacKee 3693 (K, L, P[P00507340]). — Vallée de Thy, 50-100 m, 8.I.1956, MacKee 3755 (K, L). — 4 km N of Col d’Amieu (Mathieu Logging Area), c. 500 m, 15.I.1961, MacKee 8127 (K, L, US) . — Col d’Amieu , Vallée deToili, 350-400 m, 19.I.1965, MacKee 12005 (P[P00507341, P00507342]). — Col d’Amieu, 350 m, 23.II.1966, MacKee 14438 (P[P00507344]). — Col d’Amieu, 350 m, 10.IV.1966, MacKee 14689 (P[P00507333, P00507334]). — Haute Amoa, XII.1968, MacKee 20049 ( NOU) . — Pente S. O. du Mt Koghi, 500 m, I.1971, MacKee 23274 ( NOU) . — Touho , Ponandou, 2.I.1973, MacKee 26143 (NOU sheet 012347). — Tiwaka, I.1979, MacKee 36325 (MO, NOU) . — Touho , Ponandou, 150 m, 2.I.1979, MacKee 36353 (P[P00507384]). — Col de Roussettes, 450 m, 24.IV.1981, MacKee 39000 ( NOU) . — Mont Koghi pente O, 400 m, 12.I.1984, MacKee 41761 (MO, NOU) . — Thy River valley c. 12 air km NE of Nouméa, 28.I.1980, McPherson 2363 (MO, NOU) . — Mandjélia , above Pouébo, c. 550 m, 30.I.1984, McPherson 6281 (GH, K, L, MO, NOU) .- - Mandjélia , above Pouébo, 22.II.1984, McPherson 6330 (K, L, MO, P[P00507385]). — Valley of the Ponandou, S of Touho, 24.II.1984, McPherson 6342 (MO, P[P00507386]). — Forêt Nord, 24.II.2005, Munzinger & Rigault 2678 ( NOU) . — Tchamba , Napoé, rivular forest on serpentinites, 20°59’51.3”S, 165°18’57.8”E, 15 m, 3.X.2009, Munzinger et al. 5896 (MO, NOU) . — Dawenia , 20°32’0.4”S, 164°40’47.7”E, 15.XI.2010, Munzinger et al. 6335 (G, MO, NOU, NSW, OWU, P). — Thí, X, Sarlin 231 (P[P00507335]). — Thí , I.1950, Sarlin 322 (P[P00507339]). — SW slopes of Mt. Koghis , Nouméa, c. 400 m, 19.I.1968, Schodde 5295 (L, P[P00507338]). — Massif du Mandjélia, Expl. forest. Frouin, 16.IV.1981, Suprin 1219 ( NOU) . — Rivière Bleue , 170 m, V.1986, Veillon 6477 ( NOU) . — Vallée d’Amoa vers 200 m, 17.XI.1988, Veillon 6999 ( OWU) . — Col d’Amieu , forêt Persan, 400 m, 18.I.1993, Veillon 7613 (MO, OWU) .

DESCRIPTION

Tree up to 16 m tall, occasionally a shrub 3-6 m tall; double-branching occasional. Twigs light gray to mottled reddish brown, initially appressed brownpubescent, the hairs 0.1-0.3 mm long, later glabrate, usually conspicuously and densely lenticellate.Lamina of larger leaves 8.1-12 cm long, 2.6-4.4 cm wide, dull olive-green to brown-purple above when dry, paler and light to medium brown below, coriaceous to subcoriaceous, elliptic, oblong, or lanceolateelliptic, rounded and short-decurrent at the base, acute, occasionally rounded, at the apex, glabrous above, sparsely appressed-pubescent below; midrib plane above, raised below; secondary veins 9-16 per side, at midpoint of leaf diverging at 55-75° from the midrib, brochidodromous, these and higher order veins raised and forming a prominent reticulum on both surfaces. Petiole 3-9 mm long, somewhat flattened, wrinkled, sparsely pubescent to glabrate. Inflorescences of 1-4 flowers, axillary or sometimes from the axils of fallen leaves; pedicels fascicled, (0.8) 3-5.5 mm long, straight, densely yellow- to graypubescent to glabrate; bracts 1-3, the uppermost 0.7-1.4 mm long, 0.8-1.6 mm wide, clasping the pedicel, ovate, apex obtuse to retuse or acute, yellowto gray-pubescent to glabrate. Buds conical. Sepals 1⁄3-2⁄3 connate, 0.8-2.5 mm long, 1.7-2.5 mm wide, broadly triangular, broadly acute at the apex, yellowto gray-pubescent to glabrate externally, with a strip of hairs traversing the base but otherwise glabrous internally.Outer petals white to greenish or yellowish white, fleshy, 4.4-7.6 mm long, 2.0- 2.5 mm wide, lanceolate, acute at apex, slightly keeled on outer surface but concave at base on inner surface, densely appressed-pubescent on both surfaces; inner petals white in vivo, fleshy, 3.5-6.8 mm long, 1.3-1.8 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, acute at apex, slightly keeled on exterior, becoming concave at base on inner surface, densely pubescent on both surfaces. Stamens 60-85; fertile stamens 0.5-1 mm long, quadrate, oblong, or clavate; anthers septate at anthesis, with 4-6 locules; apex of connective 0.1-0.2 mm long, dome-shaped,overhanging anther thecae, puberulent; filament 2⁄5-1⁄5 length of most stamens; innermost stamens staminodial, c. 5 or fewer, 0.9-1 mm long, quadrate; staminal cone well-developed, 1.2-1.6 mm in diameter, 0.9-1.1 mm high. Carpels 2-4; ovaries 0.7-1 mm long, pressed together, narrowly oblong, golden-tomentose; stigmas loosely appressed, slightly spreading toward apex, 2-2.9 mm long, filiform but tortuous and tentacle-like, glabrous, apex acute. Torus of flower 1.4-2.6 mm in diameter, glabrous except for hairs on carpellate portion. Fruit of up to 4 monocarps borne on a pedicel 3-9 mm long, 1.2- 3.2 mm thick, mottled red-brown to gray-brown, sparsely pubescent; torus of fruit 2.2-6.2 mm in diameter, 2.5-5 mm high, subglobose, globose, or hemispherical; monocarps green speckled with brown, dehiscing to reveal a red-pink to dark purple endocarp in vivo, 1.4-2.6 cm long, 0.8-1.8 cm wide, 0.5-1.2 cm thick, ellipsoid to nearly spherical, brown, finely verrucose, obliquely wrinkled, and densely marked with white lenticels, sparsely pubescent to glabrous, contracted into a stipe 1.2-3.5 mm long and 2.6-4.5 mm thick; apex obtuse; pericarp 0.4-1.4 mm thick. Seeds 1-4, with a grayish green sarcotesta in vivo but drying black, lying oblique to long axis of monocarp in 1-2 rows, 9-15 mm long, 5-8 mm wide, 3-5 mm thick, oblong-ellipsoid, elliptic in cross-section, finely wrinkled, somewhat shiny, raphe raised and keeled or slightly raised; micropyle encircled by a corky ring 3.4-7.2 mm in diameter and 1.2-2.5 mm high.

REMARKS

This species has some amount of variability in its leaf size and shape: in some specimens the leaves are broadly elliptic and obtuse, while in others the leaves are lanceolate and nearly acuminate.The dense clusters of short-petaled flowers with acute petals lacking brown hairs, plus the densely lenticellate monocarps, serve to distinguish this species from the rarer X. dibaccata and X. pallescens .

Sarlin (1954) reports the vernacular name “ébène” (ebony) for Xylopia vieillardii , but no subsequent collectors, nor the field experience of JM in New Caledonia, have confirmed the local use of this name, which is often applied instead to species of Diospyros (Ebenaceae) in other parts of the world.

Figures

FIG. 1. — The New Caledonian species of Xylopia L.: A, B, X. pallescens Baill.; A, habit with fruit; B, habit with flowers;C-H, X. vieillardii Baill.; C, carpels and surrounding staminal cone with a few stamens still attached; D, fruit; E, leaves; F, seed, view from micropylar end; G, seed, side view; H, flowers; I-M, X. pancheri Baill.; I, habit; J, fruit; K, stigmas, stamens, and sepals, side view; L, seed, view from micropylar end; M, seed, side view;N-O, X. dibaccata Däniker; N, habit with young fruit; O, habit with flowers; A, B, Veillon 4730 (OWU); C, McPherson 6281 (MO); D, E, McPherson 6330 (MO); F, G, Brinon 1130 (NOU); H, from Sarlin 322 (P00507339); I, McPher- son 3575 (MO); J, McPherson 5976 (MO); K-M, MacKee 29715 (P00507360); N, Munzinger & McPherson 2526 (NOU); O, McPherson 5397 (MO). Scale bars: A, B, D-J, L-O, 1 cm; C, K, 3 mm. Drawing by Kate Ball.