Cyrtandra rantemarioensis Karton. & R.Bone

Atkins, H. J. & Kartonegoro, A., 2021, A TAXONOMIC REVISION OF CYRTANDRA (GESNERIACEAE) IN SULAWESI, INDONESIA, Edinburgh Journal of Botany 78 (364), pp. 1-122 : 93-96

30. Cyrtandra rantemarioensis Karton. & R.Bone , Edinburgh J. Bot. 75(2): 26 (2018).

– Type: Indonesia, Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Mt Rantemario , 5 iii 2000, Mendum et al. 00240 (holotype BO; isotypes E, L). Figure 48 .

Branching subshrub to 2 m in height, often much shorter. Stems striate, greenish brown, glabrate, sparsely hairy on young growth. Leaves opposite, sometimes clustered at the ends of the stems, more or less equal; petioles 1.5–2 cm long, sparsely hairy; blades 8–20 × 1.8–5 cm, narrow oblong to oblanceolate, base acute, briefly decurrent, margin serrate, apex short acuminate; 5 or 6 pairs of lateral veins, tertiary venation loosely reticulate, mid to dark green, somewhat marbled and subglabrous to sparsely hairy above, much paler and flushed purple and subglabrous below, very sparsely hairy on midrib and veins. Inflorescences trailing from the base of the plant, or occasionally cauliflorous, inflorescence axis 40–50 cm or more long, striate, hairy when young, becoming glabrous with age, c. 1 mm in diameter with persistent bracteoles; bracts green to dull red, c.25 × 10 mm, acuminate at apex, with serrate margins apically, hairy when young, particularly at the base and along veins, soon caducous, visible only at the tips of the inflorescence axis; bracteoles green to dull red, 10–15 × 2 mm, linear to linear-lanceolate, acuminate at apex, sparsely hairy externally, often persistent on inflorescence axis; pedicels reddish, 10–15 mm long, hairy, elongating and becoming more glabrous in fruit. Calyx reddish when in flower turning green when fruiting, c. 6 mm long, upper lobes divided briefly at apex, lower lobes free to base, lobes acuminate, sparsely hairy externally. Corolla red, slightly paler in the mouth, 15–20 mm long, arcuate with a narrow tube widening to mouth, sparsely hairy externally, internally with scattered eglandular hairs and a dense covering of glandular hairs in the mouth, lobes spreading, slightly projected forwards, two upper lobes orbicular, c.7 × 7 mm, lateral and lower lobes orbicular, 9–10 × 8 mm. Stamens with filaments c. 2 mm long, attached c. 12 mm above the base of the corolla, white, glabrous; anthers 1–2 mm long, cohering at apices, glabrous, white; staminodes 3, c. 0.5 mm long. Gynoecium c. 10 mm long; disc c. 2 mm long, unilateral with undulate to lobed margin, glabrous; ovary densely hairy; style glandular hairy towards apex; stigma bilobed, lobes vertical, c. 1 mm across. Fruits oblong, glabrous, smooth, greenish brown (drying light brown), 15–30 × 4–8 mm; base of style and calyx persistent.

Distribution. South Sulawesi: Latimojong Range (see Figure 51 ).

Habitat and ecology. Montane and tropalpine forest at an altitude of 1500–2600 m.

Etymology. Named after the mountain from where the type specimen was collected ( Kartonegoro et al., 2018).

Proposed IUCN conservation category. The EOO of this species is 195 km 2 and the AOO is 24 km 2, based on a 2 × 2 km grid cell size, under the B criteria ( Bachman et al., 2011). It has been collected on eight different botanical expeditions in the Latimojong Range (between 1969 and 2010), suggesting that it is locally abundant and is found in montane forest sensu Cannon et al. (2007), which is one of the least threatened forest types in Sulawesi (70% of upland forests above 1500 m elevation are intact). For this reason and following Kartonegoro et al. (2018), it is recommended that Cyrtandra rantemarioensis be considered as Least Concern (LC).

Additional specimens examined. INDONESIA. South Sulawesi. Enrekang: Latimojong Mountains, 28 i 2009, Ardiyani, Poulsen & Firdaus 165 (E); ibid., on path to Mt Rantemario peak, 6 vii 2002, Brown, Craven & Juswara 4 (BO); ibid., 15 vi 1937, Eyma 467 (BO, L); ibid., Buntu Kaciling, 11 vi 2010, Kartonegoro & Santoso ARK475 (BO); ibid., Rantelemo, v 1929, Kjellberg 4040 (BO, S); ibid., 30 x 1969, Sands 307 (K); Mt Rantemario, 5 iii 2000, Smith & Galloway 229, grown at RBGE as accession 20000622K, vouchered as Scott 507 (E); ibid., 23 iv 2009, Thomas & Ardi 09-79 (BO, E); ibid., 24 iv 2009, Thomas & Ardi 09-81 (BO, E, L).

Cyrtandra rantemarioensis is one of four species in Sulawesi that have long, trailing inflorescences originating at the base of the plant (the others are C. geocarpa , C. hypogaea and C. luteiflora ). This species can most easily be distinguished in this group by its red flowers and oblong fruits that, although wrinkled when dry, are not as distinctly tessellate as the fruits of Cyrtandra hypogaea .

Figures

Figure 48. Cyrtandra rantemarioensis. a, Habit; b, trailing inflorescence; c, front view of flower; d, young fruits; e, side view of flower. Photographs: a–d, Axel Poulsen; e, Steve Scott. Specimen: Ardiyani et al. 165 (a–d) and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) accession 20000622K, vouchered as Scott 507 (e). Reproduced from Kartonegoro et al. (2018) with the permission of the Trustees of the RBGE.

Figure 51. Distribution of Cyrtandra rantemarioensis (black triangles), C. roseiflora (white circles) and C. rubribracteata (red circles).