Codonoboea norakhirrudiniana Kiew, 2019

Kiew, Ruth & Lim, Chung-Lu, 2019, Codonoboea (Gesneriaceae) in Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia, including three new species, PhytoKeys 131, pp. 1-26 : 6

Codonoboea norakhirrudiniana Kiew sp. nov. Figure 3

Diagnosis.

Codonoboea norakhirrudiniana is most similar to C. anthonyi (Kiew) C.L.Lim in its 12-19 cm-long oblanceolate leaf lamina that is glabrous above and is narrowed to the base; in its 3-4-flowered inflorescences with peduncles less than 10 cm long, but it is distinct in being a robust herb with a stem to 60 cm tall and 6-7 mm thick (not to 40 cm tall and to 6 mm thick in C. anthonyi ), the stem and petioles with persistent dense pubescence (not glabrescent), the lower leaves are distant (not with all leaves in a tuft at apex), the peduncle is 4.5-6 cm long (not 6 –8.5(– 11) cm long) and the flowers are uniformly pale lavender (not pale lavender with deep purple upper lobes).

Type.

Peninsular Malaysia. Terengganu, Hulu Terengganu, Tembat Forest Reserve, 5°12.51'N 102°34.22'E, 2 April 2010 Mohd Hairul, M.A. et al. FRI 70907 (holotype KEP; iso. SAN).

Description.

Robust, erect, unbranched herb. Stem woody, outer layer corky, 16 –30(– 60) cm tall, 6-7 mm diameter; stem and petiole with persistent, thick matted pubescence. Leaves opposite, in a tuft at the top of the stem, lower pairs equal and 0.5 –1(– 3) cm apart; petioles stout, 0.7-1.3 cm long, deeply grooved above; lamina oblanceolate to narrowly oblanceolate, thinly leathery, glabrous above, 12.5-20 × 3-6 cm, matt, dark green above, whitish-green beneath, drying dark brown above, narrowed into the petiole, margin minutely dentate, teeth to 1.5 mm long, apex acute; midrib and veins in life impressed above, prominent beneath, lateral veins 13-21 pairs; beneath midrib hispid, lateral veins and margin densely and minutely hispid.

Inflorescence a pair-flowered cyme with (2 –)3– 4 flowers, erect from the upper leaf axils, ca. 3 produced from a single leaf axil and the base of the petiole (epiphyllous), peduncle rosy purple or maroon, 4.5-6 cm long, bract pair pale green, linear, 5-8 × ca. 2 mm, pedicels maroon, purple or brown, 5-9 mm long; peduncle, pedicel and calyx densely hispid, hairs non-glandular. Flowers: buds white; calyx brownish-green, 5-lobed divided almost to the base, lobes narrow, 4-4.5 × 0.75 mm, apex acute, keeled, pubescent outside with hairs to 1 mm long, glabrous inside; corolla campanulate, plain pale lavender, 9-13 mm long, throat white inside, minutely pubescent outside, glabrous inside, tube 5-7.5 × 3.5-4 mm, lobes 5, bluntly rounded, upper two, 3.5-5 × 4-5 mm, strongly reflexed, lateral lobes ca. 4 × 4-5 mm, median lobe ca. 4.5-5 × 5-6 mm; stamens 2, joined at corolla base and included in corolla tube, filaments white, stout or expanded at the base, 2-2.5 × 0.5-1.5 mm, anthers white, broadly sagittate, 1.5-1.75 × ca. 1.5 mm, cohering face-to-face, staminodes 2, vestigial, ca. 0.75 mm long; nectary annular, minute, ca. 0.2 mm high; ovary and style densely and minutely pubescent, ovary white, 4-4.5 mm long, style white, ca. 4 mm long projecting beyond the upper corolla lobes, stigma rounded, minute, ca. 0.5 × 1mm. Fruits slender, cylindric, 24-40 × 1-2 mm, dehiscing along the upper suture; pedicel 7-15 mm.

Distribution.

Endemic in Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia, known only from Tembat Forest Reserve, Hulu Terengganu District.

Ecology.

Common in primary or logged-over lowland or hill dipterocarp forest at 390-420 m altitude, on top of ridges or above streams. Flowering gregariously with flowers and fruits on the same plant in March–April and July.

Etymology.

Named for Dato’ Indera Hj. Nor Akhirrudin bin Mahmud, formerly Director-General of the Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia, a strong advocate of conservation, who introduced the system of raising the level of protection by the designation of forest reserves as High Conservation Value Forests.

Other specimens examined.

Terengganu: Hulu Terengganu, Tembat Forest Reserve - Mohd Hairul, M.A. et al. FRI 60919 (KEP), Mohd Hairul, M.A. et al. FRI 70907 (KEP, SAN), Kamarul, M. et al. FRI 66338 (KEP), Kamarul, M. et al. FRI 67125 (KEP, L, SAN, SING), Kamarul, M. et al. FRI 67147 (KEP, L, SAN, SING), Nor Ezzawanis, A.T. et al. FRI 58126 (KEP, K, SAN, SAR, SING), Ummul Nazrah, A.R. et al. FRI 57005 (KEP, SING), Ummul Nazrah, A.R. et al. FRI 57035 (KEP).

Notes.

This species belongs to the Boeopsis group of Codonoboea species that have a short campanulate flower with large anthers prominent in the mouth of the corolla and with a minute nectary, all typical characters of a pollen flower ( Lim 2014). Molecular analysis demonstrates that this species (labelled Codonoboea sp. nov. 5 in phylogenetic tree) clusters with C. anthonyi and C. leiophylla but is distinct from them ( Lim and Kiew 2014).

It grows in the Tembat Forest Reserve. In 2010, the KEP botany team carried out an intensive collecting programme in the area that was designated for clear-felling for the extension to the Kenyir Hydroelectric Dam in an effort to provide a permanent record of this little known forest. As a result, several new species were discovered, such as two species of Codonoboea , C. norakhirrudiniana and C. tembatensis (Kiew, 2014). Although both these species were quite common and widespread within the Tembat Forest Reserve, they have not been found in other forests in Terengganu. The Tembat Forest Reserve has since been clear-felled for the extension to the Kenyir Hydroelectric Dam. The current status of their populations is not known but, because of their restricted distributions, there is the possibility that the widespread clear-felling will ultimately result in their extinction.

Figures

Figure 3. Codonoboea norakhirrudiniana Kiew, sp. nov. A habit B flowers C trigona bee leaving flower with full pollen baskets indicated by arrows. (Photographs by Ong Poh Teck).