Lasianthus hispidulus (Drake) Pitard (1924:393)

Napiroon, Tiwtawat, Chayamarit, Kongkanda, Dawson, Sally, Till, Walter & Balslev, Henrik, 2020, A synopsis of Lasianthus (Lasiantheae, Rubiaceae) in Thailand and two additional new species, Phytotaxa 439 (1), pp. 1-38 : 17-18

25. Lasianthus hispidulus (Drake) Pitard (1924:393) .— Mephitidia hispidulus Drake (1895:239) . Type (lectotype designated by Zhu 2001 b):― VIETNAM. Thai Nguyen, P. A. Eberhardt 3852 (lectotype P, n.v.) ( Figure 3N ).

= Lasianthus brevidens Craib (1933:19) . Type: ― THAILAND. Ratchaburi: A. F. G. Kerr 10833 (holotype K000777026!).

T hailand: —NORTHERN-EASTERN. Loei: 16 November 1979, T. Shimizu et al. T23032 (BKF). PENINSULAR. Krabi: Khao Phanom Bencha, 31 July 1993, C. Puff & K. Sridith 930731-1/4 (AAU, BKF, PSU, WU), 17 July 2000, D. J. Middleton et al. 510 (BKF). Nakhon Si Thammarat: Khao Luang National Park, 11 November 1951, P. Suvanakoses 131 (BKF), 15 June 1953, P. Suvanakoses 119 (BKF). Trang: Khao Chong, 12 August 1975, J. F. Maxwell 75-793 (AAU, BKF, CMUB, PSU).

Distribution: — China, Japan (Ryukyu), Vietnam, Malaysia (Borneo), Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Irian Jaya), and Papua New Guinea, Thailand (North-Eastern, South-Western, Peninsular).

Ecology: —Evergreen forest in shaded places at an elevation of 100‒ 600 m. Flowering in January‒February and fruiting in March‒May.

Notes: ―We have not seen the lectotype of Mephitidia hispidula Drake (1895:239) from Vietnam that was cited in Zhu (2001) and Zhu et al. (2012). We have seen specimens identified by Zhu in 1998 as L. brevidens (a synonym) from Thailand and they matched the original description and morphological characters of L. hispidulus . It is clear that L. brevidens Craib (1933:19) is conspecific with L. hispidulus .

In Thailand, Lasianthus hispidulus is closely related to L. saxorum Craib (1933:25) but differs by having: the leaf apex caudate-acuminate (not cuspidate-acuminate or acuminate); calyx campanulate, 1.5 mm long (not obconical and less than 1 mm long); corolla pilose on the outside and villous on the inside (not corolla pubescent outside, and pilose on the inside); drupes globose, long hirsute, 3–5 mm diameter (not subglobose, puberulous, 3‒3.5 mm diameter). In addition, both species differ from L. fordii by having the leaf blade chartaceous (not coriaceous), densely hairy branches, leaf undersurface, and calyx. (not mostly glabrous or subglabrous).

Figures

FIGURE 3A‒O. Lasianthus werefound in Thai naturalforests:A) L. appressus;B) &C) L.attenuatus;D) L.chinensis;E) L.chrysoneurus; F) L. constrictus; G) L. cyanocarpus; H) L. ellipsoideus; I) L. ellipticus; J) L. fordii; K) L. foxworthyanus; L) & M) L. hirsutus; N) L. hispidulus and O) L. inodorus.