Nanocnide lobata Wedd.

Aoki, Satoshi, Li, Pan, Matsuo, Ayumi, Suyama, Yoshihisa & Ito, Motomi, 2023, Molecular phylogeny and taxonomy of the genus Nanocnide (Urticaceae) with particular attention to the Ryukyu Islands endemic N. lobata, Phytotaxa 607 (1), pp. 23-40 : 36-37

3. Nanocnide lobata Wedd. , Prodr. [A. P. de Candolle] 16(1): 69. 1869.

Type:— Insulis sinensibus Loo-Choo [ Ryukyu Islands ]. C. Wright 301(lectotype (designated here), the center and largest specimen on P 06456110 , digital image!; see Note below) .

Description:—Annual herbs. Stems decumbent or ascending, up to 9 cm long, covered with depressed hairs. Leaves petiolate, opposite when young, alternate when matured, two nodes with the earliest staminate and pistillate inflorescence coherent, hence apparently opposite for the nodes; blades flabellate to ovate, pubescent, apex acute, base rounded to truncated, mostly dentate, entire at some lower nodes and some highest nodes, otherwise with 5 teeth on edge for the largest leaf; petioles pubescent, up to 0.5 cm long. Stipules opposite, persistent after leaf fall. Flowers diclinous. Staminate inflorescence determinate, axillary; peduncle developed for the first time on a shoot up to 0.4 mm long. Male flower ca. 1 mm in diameter when closed, perianth lobes 4, elliptic, pubescent, margin entire, apex acute, green or white translucent, closed forming turbinate buds when immature, open when mature; stamens 4; anthers white, translucent; filaments white, translucent; pistillode white translucent, quadrangular, circularly hollow at center. Pistillate inflorescence determinate umbel, solitary, axillary, subsessile, forming monochasia on apices; peduncles and pedicels pubescent. Female flower: perianth lobes 4, unequal in size, two longer ones lance-ovate, cymbiform and two shorter ones lanceolate, densely hirsute; style shorter than 0.5 mm; ovary asymmetric, laterally compressed; stigma pilose, white when fresh, brown when dried. Achenes flat, ovate, pale yellow, spotted white, ca. 1.2 mm long, covered with gel when watered for the first time. Staminate flowers develop in early spring, pistillate flowers and a small number of staminate flowers develop successively.

Distribution:—Endemic to Japan; restricted to the Ryukyu Islands, ranging from Amami-oshima to Yonaguni Island. The recognition of the species’ distribution has changed from that of Tateishi (2006b).

Habitat:—Rocky or sandy environments in forest sides, forest gaps and towns.

Note on original material:— Weddell (1869: 69) cited a specimen without a collector’s number in the original description (Loo-Choo, Wright [s.n.]). On the other hand, he cited a specimen with a number in the description of N. japonica (Loo-Choo, Wright 301) in the description of N. japonica just above the description of N. lobata . Judging from the number of the leaf teeth, we treated the specimens labelled Wright 301 [label printed, number added in pencil or ink] as N. lobata . Because the diagnosis of Weddell (1869) has pointed that N. lobata has entire or 3–5 teeth leaves whereas N. japonica has crenate to dentate leaves, Weddell should not have diagnostically confused the specimens, and the non-labeled specimen should be cited by mistake. The specimens are at the following herbaria: P (P06456110, digital image!; with a label of annotations in handwriting and a note stating that it was sent to P as a gift from Asa Gray at Harvard in 1861), GH (GH00589550, digital image!) and K (K000708596, digital image!; with a note “named by Dr. Weddell” and the name in handwriting). A specimen at US ( US 00090518, digital image!) morphologically judged as N. lobata and does not have the number 301 nor annotation. All the above-mentioned specimens have a printed heading saying that they were collected on the “ U. S. North Pacific Exploring Expedition under Commanders Ringgold and Rogers, 1853–56” and “C. Wright coll. Loo-Choo Islands.” Therefore, these specimens at P, GH, K and US are considered to be collected at the same time. According to Staflue & Cowan (1988), Weddell had lived in Poitiers, France since 1861. Therefore, it is most plausible that N. lobata was described based on the specimen at P. If we assume that Weddell cited the specimen (Loo-Choo, Wright 301) by mistake in the description of N. japonica (Precisely, N. japonica has never been recorded from the Ryukyu Islands.) and that he omitted to add the collector’s number in the description of N. lobata , then all the above specimens at P, GH, K and possibly US are parts of the original materials ( Turland et al. 2018). We compared the original materials other than those at US, and selected one at P as the lectotype because it held both of the roots and flowers of both sex, one of which were lost in those at K and GH. The sheet P06456110 contains three plants, and we designated the center and largest plant on the sheet as the lectotype. Because N. lobata usually does not propagate by shoots, the three plants having their own roots are considered to be distinct plants rather than asexually propagated clones.

Representative specimens examined:— Japan. Kagoshima: Amami-oshima , 13 Mar. 2018, S. Aoki 616 ( TI) . Okinawa: Ishigaki Isl., Fukai , 12 Mar. 2018, S. Aoki 609 ( TI) . Yonaguni Isl., Kubura , 19 Jan. 1973, Miyoshi Furuse 2091 ( TAI 203357 ) .