Ixora salicifolia (Blume)

Ordas, Jorge Anton D., Pinarok, Neil Alejandro A., Romeroso, Roanne B., Alejandro, Grecebio Jonathan D. & Banag-Moran, Cecilia I., 2019, A checklist of Rubiaceae species from Eastern Samar, Visayas, Philippines, Check List 15 (2), pp. 295-312 : 303

Ixora salicifolia (Blume) D.C., Prodr. 4 (1830) 487.

Materials examined. Table 2.

Ixora silagoensis Banag, Manalastas & Alejandro, Nordic Journal of Botany 32 (2014) 763.

Materials examined. Table 2.

Shrub about 1 m high. Leaves, sessile, erect, linear, 27–30 × 1–3 cm, coriaceous. Inflorescences shortly pedun- cled, red. Calyces narrowly triangular, 2–3 m, red. Corolla white, tinged with pink on lobes, lobes 10 mm, tube 40–45 mm. Fruits subglobose, 0.5–1 cm in diameter, red.

Ixora silagoensis was discovered in the municipality of Silago on southern Leyte in 2012 and was reported as a Critically Endangered species ( Banag et al. 2014). Numerous populations of this species occur on Eastern Samar, particularly in lowland primary forests. It resembles I. auriculata but is distinguished by its fruits and flowers. The geographic distributions of these species also differ; I. auriculata occurs on Luzon whereas I. silagoensis occurs on Samar and Leyte ( Banag et al. 2014).