Flemingia kerrii Craib (1911: 42)

Do, Truong Van & Gao, Xin-Fen, 2020, Taxonomic revision of the genus Flemingia (Leguminosae) from Indo-Chinese floristic region, Phytotaxa 429 (1), pp. 1-38 : 31-32

19. Flemingia kerrii Craib (1911: 42) . Type :— THAILAND. Nakhon Si Thammarat: alt. 300m, 15 February 1910, A.F.G.Kerr 976 (Holotype, BM-000958668!; isotype, K-000900611!, E-00157795!)

Flemingia wangkae Craib (1927: 70) . Type :— THAILAND. Rachaburi : Kanburi, Wangka, alt. 200 m, 25 January 1926, A.F.G.Kerr 10303 (Holotype, ABD-UH: 2/207!; isotype, BM-000958673!).

Flemingia ferruginea var. eglandulosa Gagnep. (1916: 304) . Lectotype (designated here):— LAOS. Bassin du Sè-Moun , January 1877, F.J.Harmand s.n. (P-02920813!) ( Figure 9 ) syn. nov.

Shrubs, erect, up to 1.5 m tall. Branchlets subterete or subtriangular, glabrescent. Petiole 3–5 cm long, sparse hair, distinctly winged; petiolules 4–5 mm long. Stipules linear-lanceolate, 8–9 mm long, ca. 2 mm wide, pubescent, persistent or deciduous. Leaves digitately 3-foliolate, elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 6–10 cm long, 3–5 cm wide, apex acuminate or sometimes obtuse with slender mucronata, base cuneate at terminal leaflets and obliquely subrotundated at lateral leaflets; adaxially glabrous, abaxially densely pubescent with orange, sessile glands, basal veins 3, reaching upwards to three-four of the length of the lamina, lateral veins pinnate, 6–7 pairs, veins flat or sometimes slightly concave on adaxial surface, distinct and prominent on abaxial surface. Inflorescence racemose, axillary, simple or branched; inflorescence axis 0.5–2 cm long, sparsely villous. Bracts narrowly ovate, 2 mm long, subpersistent. Flowers 0.6–0.7 cm long, clustered; pedicel extremely short. Calyx tube 1.5–2 mm long, lobes ca. 2.5–3 mm long, longest one ca. 4 mm long, covered densely with red sessile glands. Corolla greenish with reddish venation; standard oblong, 4–5 mm long, base with claw and auricles; wings narrow, long and curved, as long as standard, slenderly clawed, auriculate; keel falcate, clawed, apex obtuse. Pods oblong to elliptic, 5–6 mm long, 3–4 mm diam., sparsely pubescent and covered with viscous red glands, apex oblique, with small acute mucronata. Seeds 1 or 2, black, suborbicular, ca. 1.5 mm in diam.

Ecology and phenology: — Flemingia kerrii grows in mixed lower dry deciduous forest along stream in rather open spot, at 500– 600 m. Flowering from November to February, and fruiting from December to March.

Distribution: — Thailand, Laos, and new to Myanmar.

Notes: — Gagnepain (1916), in his treatment of Flemingia in Floré Genérale de Indo-Chine, originally described Flemingia ferruginea var. eglandulosa based on two gatherings: Harmand s.n. and Thorel s.n. which were collected from Laos. However, Gagnepain did not specify, which of the two specimens should be regarded as the type. Therefore, these two specimens constitute syntypes. Later, Nguyen (1979) in his treatment of Flemingia in Flore du Cambodge, Laos, et Vietnam synonymized Flemingia ferruginea var. eglandulosa under Flemingia ferruginea , but did not make lectotypification for Flemingia ferruginea var. eglandulosa . While looking for the type of Flemingia ferruginea var. eglandulosa , we traced two duplicates of Thorel s.n. at P (P-00709068 & P-00709069) and only one duplicate of Harmand s.n. at P (P-02920813). Of which, the specimen F. J. Harmand s.n is a complete specimen including leaves, flowers and pods, which matches very well with the protologue, and selected here as the lectotype of the variety ( Figure 9 ). The specimens of Thorel s.n. at P (P-00709068 & P-00709069) remain syntypes. Furthermore, from view of type specimens indicated that these diagnostics characters of Flemingia ferruginea var. eglandulosa , such as distinctly winged petiole, racemose inflorescence on axillary and old branches, very short inflorescence axes, small flower, small bract and calyx lobes were not identical to those of Flemingia ferruginea . Therefore, we disagree with Nguyen’s treatment (1979). Recently careful examination of the protologue and type specimens showed that the morphological characters of F. ferruginea var. eglandulosa , are mostly identical or overlapping to those found in F. kerrii , a previously described species to Thailand ( Table 4). Therefore, the former is considered herein as new synonyms of F. kerrii . This species is most similar to F. macrophylla , but it is clearly distinguishable from the latter by the size of inflorescence axes and flowers whịch are much shorter than the latter and the morphology of petiole which are distinctly winged.

Further examination on the Flemingia collection at SING herbarium revealed an unidentified Flemingia specimen from Myanmar ( Figure 10 ) that has the morphological characters completely match with the protologue and type specimen of F. kerrii , which is here reported as a new record for Mynamar.

Representative specimens: — THAILAND. A.F.G.Kerr 10154 (AAU) ; Utai Thani: Ban Rai, Huay Ka Kaeng Game Reserve , 22 February 1970, C. F.van Beusekom & T.Santisuk 2914 (AAU) ; 6 March 1976, J.F.Maxwell 76-78 (AAU). MYANMAR. Alaungdaw: Kathapa National Park , E.P.Tay & S.C. Chin 94-0028 (SING) ( Figure 10 ) .

Figures

FIGURE 9. Lectotype of Flemingia ferruginea var. eglandulosa (Harmand s.n. at P-02920813, designated here).

FIGURE 10. Flemingia kerrii, a new record for Myanmar (Tay & Chin 94-0028 at SING).